12/18/2009

December 2009 No. 110





President's Page

Let me be one of many to wish all of you a very happy holiday season. CAHLSA has also gotten into the holiday spirit with a seasonal party at The Lindner Park/McCullough Estate Nature Preserve on December 9th. This gorgeous house tucked away in Norwood has been the location of previous CAHLSA parties. It was beautifully decorated with many lights and a fully trimmed tree. Being the busy holiday season, I could not stay long, my presence required at an elementary school holiday concert. However I was informed that the singing and games rivaled last year’s merriment. (I did manage to sneak a few more great cookies on my way out).

As is our tradition, we collected books to donate to a chosen charity. This year’s recipient was the Kids Café at Our Daily Bread located just over Race Street from Findlay Market. This year we collected forty four books. Meredith worked hard to get the gift labels in and I delivered them to the café this afternoon. Paul Miller, the develop director, greeted me at the door. Joyce Foster the Kids Café coordinator explained to me some of the activities that go on in the Café. They were very grateful to receive the books. The Café and Our Daily Bread are always looking for volunteers with crafting and merriment skills. I think CAHLSA is rich with those types. If you are looking for a giving outlet, call them (513-621-6364).





Next up on our agenda is a PubMed training. Holly Ann Burt from the GMR will be coming to Cincinnati (Univ of Cincinnati Health Sci Library) February 5, 2010 for a CAHSLA workshop to teach us how to use the new version of PubMed. The morning class is called “Making PubMed Work For You” and the afternoon class is called “PubMed Clinics of North America: A Problem Based Approach to PubMed.” This is a timely workshop given all the chat on the listserv. So get your questions ready and get to the workshop.

Again Happy Holiday Season. Good luck with the shopping, and hope to see you at the CAHLSA workshop.
-- Amy Koshoffer, 2009-2010 President






CAHSLA Holiday Party
The Lindner Park/McCullough Estate Nature Preserve
December 9, 2009, no. 110


Attendees: Carole Baker, Cathy Constance, Regina Hartman, Jodi Hetzel, Barbarie Hill, Emily Kean, Amy Koshoffer, Lisa McCormick, Meredith Orlowski, Mary Piper, Sharon Purtee, Val Purvis, Cecil Rahe, Emily Rahe, Edith Starbuck, Jane Thompson

The annual holiday party was once again held at the beautiful McCullough Estate House in Norwood. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. Appetizers and desserts were provided by CAHSLA members.

Over thirty-five children’s books were collected to be donated to the Kids Café, an organization run by the Freestore Foodbank and Our Daily Bread.

Mary Piper announced that Jane Thomson’s retirement party would be held at Mary’s house in January and invited all CAHSLA members to attend. A formal invitation will follow. Meredith Orlowski reminded everyone to watch their e-mails for more details about the PubMed training sessions scheduled for February 5, 2010.

Meredith and the Planning Committee also organized some fun holiday-themed games, jogging our memories about song lyrics and reminiscing about memorable gifts. Edith Starbuck continued the holiday party tradition by providing us with sheet music for our annual Christmas Carol sing-along.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

-- Respectfully Submitted, Emily Kean, Secretary


Programs

The Annual Holiday Party was held at the Lindner Park/McCullough Estate Nature Preserve in Norwood. The McCullough House offered a warm, cozy environment that was perfect for our holiday party on such a blustery day. CAHSLA members prepared delicious hors d'oeuvres and desserts. As is tradition, CAHSLA collects and donates children’s books for needy children every Holiday party. This year we collected 44 children’s books for the Kids Café. Thank you to all those who donated! The Kids Café is an organization run by the Freestore Foodbank and Our Daily Bread. Children ages 5-13 attend this program in Over the Rhine for a nurturing atmosphere, activities, homework help, and a meal to eat after school. The children can even take books home to read when they have enough donations.

Upcoming Program Note: Please mark your calendars for February 5! CAHSLA is sponsoring a PubMed workshop. Holly Ann Burt, GMR Outreach and Exhibits Coordinator, is making a special trip to Cincinnati to help us use the new PubMed. She will teach two classes (both are free). Holly is a PubMed expert, don’t pass up this opportunity!


The morning class is called “Making PubMed Work For You” and the afternoon class is “PubMed Clinics of North America: A Problem Based Approach to PubMed.” Classes will be held in the health sciences library at the University of Cincinnati. I will send out an email regarding further details and RSVP information.

--Meredith Orlowski, Program Chair



CAHSLA
Financial Report 2009-2010 Year-To-Date


Checking
Balance as of 6/12/2009 $ 469.33

Deposits
Dues – 25 full, 2 student $391.00

Withdrawals
CAHSLA.org domain renewal $ 50.00
Food – Sep meeting $231.11
Donation to Museum Center $ 75.00
Barbarie’s retirement reception $100.00
McCullough House donation $100.00
Dec party – supplies & drinks $ 42.10

Balance as of 12/15/2009 $ 262.12

Saving
Balance as of 6/12/2009 $2872.07
Deposits
Interest (6 months) $ 7.24

Balance as of 12/15/2009 $2879.31

Cash on hand
Balance as of 6/12/2009 $ 35.52

Balance as of 12/15/2009 $ 35.52

Total Assets $3176.95

Members:
25 full
2 student
9 life
36

-- Submitted by: Cathy Constance, Treasurer 12/15/2009



State Library of Ohio

Since 2001, the State Library budget has suffered severe cuts and staffing has been reduced 45%, from 130 to 72. Most of this reduction has been achieved through attrition but this is no longer possible. With the latest budget reduction, it has become necessary to once again review our goals and prioritize our objectives.

Ohio is fortunate to have many library organizations providing opportunities for continuing education (CE) for staff working in all types of libraries. In fact, many of these organizations, whose sole purpose is to provide CE to the Ohio library community, depend on income generated through these services. In order to reduce duplication, yet continue to provide programs and services unique to the State Library, the continuing education staff position and program have been eliminated.

The State Library will carry on collaborations with CE partners for workshops and trainings. Individuals within programs at the State Library will continue to offer specialized training, e.g. content specific services or how to use government documents for research. In addition, online courses via WebJunction Ohio service will be available at no cost through June 30, 2010.

Marsha McDevitt-Stredney
Marketing & Communications Director
274 E. 1st Avenue
Columbus, OH 43201
Tel: 614-644-6875
Fax: 614-466-3584
http://www.library.ohio.gov/



CAHSLA COLLEAGUES

We wish to extend a warm welcome to two new CAHSLA members. Dana Dunn has jointed and is representing Clinton Memorial Hospital.

Melida Busch is returning to the Cincinnati area as Manager of the Edward L. Pratt Library at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, after an almost three-year tour as News and Current Awareness Librarian for Pfizer. Before leaving Cincinnati in 2006, Melida was a Senior Information Analyst with Ethicon Endo-Surgery.

We wish to extend our best wishes to Jane Thompson, University of Cincinnati AIT&L, who plans to retire in January. Jane has worn many hats in the CAHSLA organization in her twenty plus years as a member. Without Jane’s expertise the CAHSLA archives would have been lost, and our policies and procedures would languish from inattention. She has dispensed her professional wisdom without hesitation and with wit and humor that is unmatched. We want to keep in touch, Jane!

News from our newly retired colleague, Barbarie Hill. “The move went without major hitches, and we have been in our new house for a week now. We're beginning to feel comfortable, but there is a lot to do to make a place livable -- determining places to put things, figuring out where to hang pictures, arranging the furniture, etc. Tonight we're having a major snowstorm. It's great to sit in our cozy living room and watch it come down with nowhere we have to go. Tomorrow I'm sure the kids will want to sled and build snowmen. Hope you have a wonderful holiday! P.S. After I wrote this, we were snowed in for four days with over two feet of snow. The kids couldn't play in it because they couldn't move in snow up to their armpits. We are only a half mile off a main road, but we and our neighbors had to hire someone with a snowplow to clear our lane and our driveways before we could get out. The city isn't prepared for this kind of snowfall.”

We would like to send holiday wishes to Jodi Hetzel, Regional Sales Manager for EBSCO. Jodi was able to join us at the annual Holiday Party at the Lindner Park/McCullough Estate Nature Preserve in Norwood. Jodi’s magic cookie bars survived intact her remarkable flight from Boston to Cincinnati. We hope to see you next year, Jodi.

“Mary had her’s in a manger. Meredith wants to have her’s in a hospital.” Those of us in attendance at the Holiday Party found out during the fun and games through this little ditty that our colleague Meredith Orlowski (US AIT&L) and her husband Bob will be welcoming a little one in June. Congratulations Meredith and Bob!!


IN THE LITERATURE AND ON THE NET

From medlib-l on 11/30/2009:
Things are finally looking up in Quickdocland. Jay Daly’s daughter and son-in-law have turned over the database, the program, customer information, etc. to a company here in Massachusetts. There will be a formal announcement shortly, along with contact info, website address, etc. So stay tuned.

If you are nearing the end, or have reached the end of your contract period, keep using Quickdoc; it won’t quit on you. The developers will be in touch with each customer to let you know what’s next.

Thank you all for your patience!

Margo Coletti, AMLS, AHIP
Director
Knowledge Services
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
One Deaconess Road
Boston, MA 02215

******

Karen Anderson was recently featured in an article in the Minot Daily News, entitled Faster access: More resources make medical information readily available. Karen is director of the Angus Cameron Medical Library at Trinity Health in Minot, North Dakota, and is the University of North Dakota Northwest Clinic Campus Librarian. Karen discusses the new technologies that bring health information faster to consumers. http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/533406.html?nav=5010





CAHSLA CALENDAR

Jan. 1, 2010 HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Jan. 13, 2010 Retirement party for Jane Thompson at the home of Mary Piper.

Feb. 5, 2010 PubMed workshop at UC Health Sciences Library.








10/07/2009

September 2009 No.109

President's Page
Racing up the highway to Columbus, I had several emotions going on at once. I was ecstatic and also slightly anxious. I was excited because I was about to attend my first Midwest Chapter/MLA meeting. I had dread because I was going to be late. I had to be in Columbus by 1 pm for my continuing education class, and I had taken too long at the library in Cheviot choosing just the right book on tape. I ended up with four books, and I was late for my CE class. But only 5 minutes late. So I started my time at the Midwest Conference…with high emotions and with the library. I settled into my class and joined the discussion underway, one of many great dialogues to be had over the next few days. The conference was a great time and it was fantastic to see CAHLSA so well represented among the organizers and moderators. Being my first conference I had the intention to meet as many people as I could. Through my involvement in CAHLSA I knew at least 10 people already when I arrived at the conference. And I was able to meet many more incredibly accomplished medical librarians from throughout the Midwest. One person I met was Pam Rees, a librarian at the State Library of Iowa. I met Pam because we roomed together in Columbus, and I was introduced to Pam through Val Purvis. Through my relationships made at CAHLSA I am able to extend out beyond Cincinnati into the greater medical librarian community. I guess in the age of Web 2.0 this is not too uncommon, but there is a definite enhancement to the interactions I have. I am instructed, mentored and welcomed by the members of CAHLSA. It is a gift to have such a group to foster the professional development of medical librarians and to provide support for our members. One major theme coming out of the conference was realizing the worth of highly-skilled librarians and the value of the work done by these information professionals. The next event on the CAHLSA calendar will be the retirement party of Barbarie Hill. We will gather and celebrate the stellar career of one of our finest. The work she has done in her career has been incredibly valuable to the mission of Cincinnati Children's. And in December CAHLSA will throw a holiday party. Last year’s party was hailed as absolute fun and I can only image that this year’s party will be even better. So read on for the details of upcoming events and for more news of Columbus 2009. I hope to meet you at a CAHLSA event in the very near future. Amy Koshoffer, CAHLSA President 2009


>

CAHSLA

Financial Report 2009-2010 Year-To-Date



CAHSLA Membership Meeting
The Cincinnati Historical Society Library
September 22, 2009

Attendees: Brigid Almaguer, Stephanie Bricking, Cathy Constance, Barbara Dawson, Mike Douglas, Regina Hartman, Barbarie Hill, Emily Kean, Alison Kissling, Amy Koshoffer, Margee Lewis, Lisa McCormick, Meredith Orlowski, Sharon Purtee, Ruby Rogers, Barbara Slavinski, Don Smith, Edith Starbuck, Amy Stoneburner, Katie Wolf


The annual membership meeting was held at the Cincinnati Historical Society Library, located at the Cincinnati Museum Center. The Library’s Director, Ruby Rogers, provided an overview of the history of the Society and the current services of the Library. Barbara Dawson led meeting attendees on a tour of the Library’s physical space, including the stacks which are closed to the public.


The group then moved to the atrium of the Museum Center and enjoyed boxed lunches from Aynie’s Catering.


The business meeting was called to order at 6:45 p.m. by President, Amy Koshoffer. Meeting attendees introduced themselves. Amy Koshoffer reminded members of the retirement celebration for Barbarie Hill that will be held at Cincinnati Children’s on October 15. Meredith Orlowski, Vice President/Program Chair, outlined the remaining meetings for the year. She asked members to start thinking of an organization for the annual children’s book donation. A training session on the new PubMed interface was also suggested for the workshop meeting to be held in early 2010.


Cathy Constance, Treasurer, stated that the treasury currently holds $3,300.00. She reminded attendees that membership dues for 2009-2010 were now due and also suggested conducting a membership drive.

The meeting was adjourned by Amy Koshoffer at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, Emily Kean, Secretary




Greetings! What kind of programming can you expect from CAHSLA this year? Stay tuned for information about our Holiday party in December. As always, we’ll be collecting books for our annual children’s book drive during the holiday meeting. If you have any suggestions for worthy organizations, please contact meredith.orlowski@uc.edu. After turning the corner into 2010, we’ll have a workshop to look forward to and our spring business meeting. The final meeting of the year will be our annual picnic, which always promises to be great fun! As always, feel free to bring guests along and introduce them to CAHSLA. Looking forward to seeing everyone throughout the year!

Submitted by Meredith Orlowski





Midwest Chapter/MLA

Columbus 2009 Seek, Explore, Discover: We came from very different places and in different frames of mind as we arrived at the conference. Some had rushed from the airport, and some had raced in a car. And some had anxiously waited two years for the start of the conference. So it was perfect for all of us to slip off to the Islands for a few hours of vacation bliss. The opening reception had a warm balmy Island theme complete with spicy jerk chicken kabobs and plenty of Red Stripe and Mango Mai Tai to go around. And a one man steel band added the perfect sound track.


After opening words were said and everyone had his fill of the free flowing food and beer, it was time to head to the North Shore. There were shuttles to ferry willing conference participants to the high life on High Street. Everyone had to have been there, the sidewalks were so jam packed with onlookers, street musicians and artists directing people into the galleries and shops. One could find anything from cutting edge art to lampshades and even the perfect souvenir from Columbus.


Though the previous night was a late one, fifteen of us managed to rouse ourselves out of bed Sunday morning for a sunrise walk. At 6:30 a.m. we gathered in the conference area. Bundled up and armed with flashlights we headed out into the darkness to walk off Mai Tai and see some of the sites in downtown Columbus. We walked for 45 minutes past the old post office (now a law firm), the Columbus Dispatch building, several downtown high rise buildings and the Columbus Metropolitan Public Library. Behind the library is a topiary garden themed after George Seurat’s A Sunday On The Island Of La Grande Jatte. The library and the garden are worth a visit, but it would have to wait for the sunrise. Actually we were too early to see the sunrise. But the moon was up, and the refreshing walk gave one the feeling of having squeezed in a whole extra day.


The main social event was an evening at the Statehouse. The venue was just a hop, skip and jump over State Street from the conference hotel. A wonderful spread of cheeses and fruits were set out in the middle of the Statehouse Rotunda. Servers brought tasty bruschetta to the tables and the bar was serving great wines including a delicious Reisling from Ohio’s own Mon Ami winery. During hors d'oeuvres, we were free to wander the Statehouse or join the guided tour to the Senate Chamber. The only disappointment was we were not going to be allowed to sit in the Governor’s chair or any other elected official’s chair. If you were quick, you could get down to the Ohio Museum housed in the basement of the building. It is home to great information about Ohio and to a fantastic stain glass window that used to hang in the rotunda dome. It was replaced by the current window and somehow lost in storage. Then it was rediscovered during the 1990’s renovation and placed in the museum.


The meal was a fantastic Italian buffet with great vegetables, pasta and ravioli. The hardest part was not eating the dessert first. We were tempted with fresh (all prepared by the statehouse chef) biscotti, pizzelles, and other Italian cookies placed on the table at the start of the meal. It was great food and a fantastic evening.


The final social event was a dine-around in the German Village. Regretfully I had to get back to Cincinnati and could not attend. It is all the more reason to head back up to Columbus. Wisconsin 2010 has big shoes to fill.


Submitted by Amy Koshoffer


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“Cheap, Fast and Decent Strategic Planning for Medical Libraries” CE Course

Instructor: Pat Wagner

If the opportunity ever presents itself to take a class from Ms. Pat Wagner, sign up immediately! She is a knowledgeable and engaging instructor. Wagner, a partner in Pattern Research, Inc., Denver, CO, is an “…educator, trainer, writer and consultant, focusing on personnel, management, leadership, marketing, career and strategic planning issues. She has special interests in conflict management, project management, community outreach and future studies.” http://www.pattern.com/

Wagner uses a variety of teaching techniques to present a ‘strategic planning 101’ class of interest and usefulness to the beginning or the experienced librarian. She teaches that even the smallest, poorest, richest, oldest and most successful library needs a strategic plan to “create a written contract for making decisions” and to move “the library forward to a new destination.” In her 2-page list of “Trends to Consider,” Wagner lists the following New Library Principles you may find interesting:

A library is a space designed for people first, not for books or computers. The great good place: more and different public uses of the library space.

Materials organized around topics, themes, and technology. Traditional cataloging does not drive medical library organization.

Changing scope of services: “Never new a medical library did that!” Surprise and innovation.

I’ll just mention two of the online resources Wagner recommended to the class:

Sandra Nelson Strategic Planning Information (Ms. Nelson is a “planning guru”) http://www.sandranelson.com/planning_links.html

and Strategic Planning in Libraries http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/strategicplan.html

The class was excellent, timely, practical and a great way to get the basics of strategic planning for health sciences libraries.

Submitted by Lisa McCormick

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The Thin Book with Lots of Pictures
Clifford Stoll, PhD

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Clifford Stoll, Sunday’s keynote speaker, is just the right mix of energy, humor, insight and story telling to launch an idea-challenging conference. When he shared the ‘outline of the talk’ – notes he had written on his palm, fingers and thumb and that survived his shower – you knew this would not be your typical address.


Stoll captured the imagination and memory of many who attended the 1996 Medical Library Association conference in Kansas City, MO. He was the keynote speaker at MLA, and it was shortly after the publication of his book Silicone Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. You couldn’t help but be riveted by Stoll’s constant movement and scatter-gun-free-associating dialog that challenged conventional wisdom that all things Information Highway/Web/Internet related were to be accepted without scrutiny. Those of us lucky enough to have heard Stoll in 1996 repeatedly wondered: ”What is Dr. Stoll thinking these days? What does he have to say on the impact of technology on education and research?” The Midwest Chapter Conference seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get updated on Stoll’s observations and musings.

It is not at all easy to summarize what Stoll had to say, but I’ll share a few of the themes and comments that impressed me.


Good, Cheap, Fast – Dr. Stoll used a triangle similar to the one below to illustrate that, information, like food can be fast and cheap (McDonald’s, Wendy’s, etc.) but you can’t always have it good (healthy, low fat, etc.). You can have good food at a nice restaurant but it won’t be cheap. And if you want really good food, well, you can make it at home yourself economically, but it won’t be fast. When you need information you can’t have all three – good, cheap and fast. Information resources and the skilled expertise of library professionals are expensive – we cannot continue to perpetuate the illusion that you can get good information on the cheap.


“Innovation, curiosity and a real yearning to find out what’s going on and a wish to help” -– Stoll was inspired to incorporate this comment Meredith Orlowski made to him immediately before taking the stage! He expressed envy for this job of librarians who pursue knowledge and understanding, not just the quick answer. According to Stoll, these same desires led him to become an astronomer and a stay-at home dad who occasionally teaches college-level physics to eighth graders.


[He also used Meredith as a model for his Klein bottle cap and Moebius strip scarf, so we couldn't resist adding the picture you see here.]


Stoll’s bio describes him as an astronomer, astrophysicist, educator, teacher, author, and computer security expert, but seeing and hearing him in person you know he is a passionately alive, ever-curious, thoughtful and kind-hearted man. He concluded his time with us by relating a hair-raising story of being pursued by riot-police on the campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo during the Viet Nam war protests. As a geeky physics student, he was attempting to cross campus during a protest. The riot-police saw him, started to pursue him, and would not stop even after Stoll proclaimed, “I’m just a physics student!” Stoll found refuge in the historic Hayes Hall Tower Clock & Westminster Chime, and when the tear gas cleared, he read the following inscription: "All truth is one. In this light may science and religion labor here together for the steady evolution of mankind from darkness to light; from prejudice to tolerance; from narrowness to broadmindedness." A message as timely today as when it was first inscribed.

Submitted by Lisa McCormick
******
Monday's plenary, "The Network, Library Boundaries, and Systemwide Organization," was given by Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC Vice President and Chief Strategist. He explained that transaction costs help to determine boundaries, i.e. what is done internally and what is externalized. Libraries externalize services such as cataloging, abstracting and indexing, and e-journals. Now Google is offering externalization of searching.

Dempsey described the functions of any operation as a three-part effort encompassing customer relationships, product innovation and infrastructure. In the case of a library, customer relationships would include the provision of study and social spaces, interpretation of needs, personalized service, marketing and assessment, and customization. Product innovation for libraries would be the acquisition and development of new information resources and services, and infrastructure includes maintaining physical space and inventory, repository functions, systems infrastructure and online services. Libraries spend a lot of time on infrastructure and perhaps not enough time on customer relationships management. We can see that our customers are increasingly involved in web-scale discovery that happens elsewhere, e.g. social networks. In this new context, information is abundant but attention is scarce and community is the new content. The library must build around the customer's workflow, not vice versa. As Dan Chudhov says in his Library Geeks podcast, "people are entry points."

All of this points to the conclusion that the research libraries of the very near future need to be multiscalar. Dempsey concluded his analysis by borrowing from Anne Kenney of OCLC who made some bold assertions in her presentation "Approaching an Entity Crisis: Reconceiving Research Libraries in a Multi-Institutional Context" available online at http://www.oclc.org/programsandresearch/dss/ppt/dss_kenney.pdf. Libraries need to understand what should be done locally; be more strongly instrumental with affiliations; avoid spreading too thinly; innovate around institutional configurations; and pool uncertainty!

Submitted by Barbarie Hill
******

GMR Technology Forum

The GMR Technology Forum focused on three emerging technologies: Facebook and Twitter, mobile devices, and personal health records. The panel was comprised of Michelle Kraft, Cleveland Clinic; Eric Schnell, Ohio State University; and Catherine Arnott Smith, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Michelle Kraft spoke first about Facebook and Twitter. Her presentation was focused on how medical libraries are currently using Facebook and Twitter applications as an extension of their online presence or as an additional outreach vehicle. Several medical libraries are using Facebook and/or Twitter in the following ways: News and Information, Event Notification, Chat Reference, Posting Tutorials, Surveys, or Quizzes. She finished by saying that a library shouldn’t just join because everyone else is; each organization has to assess its patrons’ needs, as well as its internal Internet policies, to determine if social networking outreach will be a good fit. Michelle’s PowerPoint presentation is available online at http://www.slideshare.net/michellekraft

Eric Schnell spoke next about how libraries and their patrons are using mobile devices. Eric began by surveying the audience about their electronic device usage and shared the findings from a 2009 Pew Internet Research study that 56% of adult Americans have accessed the Internet by wireless means. Several mobile-specific applications, such as iChart and Pedi-STAT, were mentioned. Some examples of libraries connecting with their patrons via mobile devices included: Catalogs/Web Sites, Text Reference and News/Alerts, Tutorials, and Request Forms. For the most part, these websites have been specifically formatted for usage on mobile devices. Some of the more advanced examples were GPS recognition and QR Codes. Eric’s slides with links to these library’s mobile webpages is available online at http://www.tinyurl.com/yecnrqp

Catherine Arnott Smith ended the technology forum by presenting the preliminary findings of her study on personal health record usage in public libraries. Cat began by outlining the differences between Personal Health Records (PHRs) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs): A PHR is self-documentation of a patient’s healthcare experience, and the EMR is the record updated and maintained by the hospital and/or the healthcare provider’s office. Cat explained that some PHRs are available through the patient’s insurance company, while there are others freely available online. Some online examples include: AHiMA’s http://www.myphr.com; www.projecthealthdesign.org from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Microsoft’s http://www.healthvault.com; and Google’s beta project, Google Health, http://www.google.com/health. Cat’s talk focused primarily on the usage of the VA’s myHealtheVet (http://www.myhealth.va.gov). She concluded by sharing some rather startling findings about how public librarians were interacting with patrons with health questions – mostly referring patrons to “the web” but not giving specific site recommendations or avoiding health questions entirely due to liability fears.

Submitted by Emily Kean

******

The plenary panel for Monday afternoon was “Scholarly Communication 101: It’s All About Change.” Ray English, Director of Libraries at Oberlin College and Karen Fischer, Collections Analysis and Planning Librarian at the University of Iowa Libraries gave an informative presentation in a tag team format. Both were extremely knowledgeable about scholarly communication. It was a great session that laid the groundwork for fundamental scholarly communication facts. One of the topics discussed was open access. It was touted as one of the more promising ways to combat the publishing crisis. The number of open access journals is rapidly increasing and some open access publications are even being purchased by traditional publishers. Another facet covered was author’s rights. Authors should be encouraged not to sign their rights away to the publishers. Authors must be careful to read the agreement with publishers upon submitting their work. If necessary, try editing the existing agreement or attach an addendum. If an author can’t negotiate anything, then they should consider publishing elsewhere. The NIH open access policy was discussed, including the history of it. The compliance rate for submission is rising and is about 75%. One third of federally funded research money goes to the NIH. The other two thirds of federally funded research currently doesn’t have any special arrangements for self archiving. However, that may soon change. In 2009, the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) was introduced. It extends the NIH policy to other federal grant programs such as those that originate from the NSF, HHS, CDC and others. Introducing self archiving to these other groups will cover the remaining two thirds of federal research money and will therefore provide access to more publications. When it comes to what librarians can do to help the situation, we were encouraged to visit the ACRL website for a special scholarly communication tool kit, engage researchers, and support FRPAA. For links that the speakers suggested, visit: http://midwestmla.org/conference2009/references.html
Submitted by Meredith Orlowski
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Ohio Health Sciences Library Association

The fall meeting of OHSLA took place during the Midwest Chapter conference on Sunday, October 4. The business meeting was chaired by Bette Sydelko who unexpectedly had to step into the role from President-Elect when President Jackie Harris had to resign. Bette is currently serving as both President and President-Elect/Program Chair, so members need to be alert to ways that we can help her out.

A bylaws change was voted down after the discussion led to the conclusion that the President could name a representative to another organization, in this case the Ohio Collaborative for Clear Health Communication, without a specific entry in the bylaws.

After the business was concluded, a 15th anniversary celebration was held, featuring a slide presentation of photos of members and meetings over the life of the organization.
We all enjoyed seeing friends and trying to remember names.

Submitted by Barbarie Hill



CAHSLA Colleagues

The Midwest Chapter/MLA conference was well-attended by CAHSLA members, many of whom had responsibilities on the planning committees: Mike Douglas, Regina Hartman, Barbarie Hill, Emily Kean, Amy Koshoffer, Lisa McCormick, Meredith Orlowski, Mary Piper, Val Purvis, Leslie Schick, and Edith Starbuck. Alison Kissling and Margee Lewis took CE courses but did not attend the conference itself. Other librarians from Cincinnati attending were Katie Wolf (NIOSH) and Emily Cullen (Galen School of Nursing) who presented a paper.

******

It was a lovely party and having all my CAHSLA friends there made it even more special for me. The gifts were wonderful -- a gift card from Joseph-Beth to help me fill my leisure time with books, a birdhouse sculpture to decorate my new house, jewelry to decorate me, and a lifetime membership to CAHLSA. You know just what I like! Thanks so much for everything and especially for being my professional support group and my friends. We've shared a lot of our common joys, worries and frustrations over the years. And I guarantee that you'll see me at the meetings whenever I'm in town. Barbarie


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In the Literature

Chronicle of Higher Education September 28, 2009
After Losing Users in Catalogs, Libraries Find Better Search Software

By Marc Parry


"...The problem is that traditional online library catalogs don't tend to order search results by ranked relevance, and they can befuddle users with clunky interfaces... That's changing because of two technology trends... sophisticated software that makes exploring their collections more like the easy-to-filter experience you might find in an online Sears catalog... free open-source programs that tackle the same problems with no licensing fees. A key feature of this software genre is that it helps you make sense of data through "faceted" searching, common when you shop online for a new jacket or a stereo system. Say you type in "Susan B. Anthony." The new system will ask if you want books by her or about her...Users can also sort by media type, language, and date. These products can also rank search results by relevance and use prompts of "Did you mean … ?" ...

The buzzwords for the technology that librarians hope will allow users to rediscover their collections are "Web-scale index searching." That ... is a fancy way of saying that the system, like Google, works by searching against a vast index of information. It's a contrast with an earlier attempt to deal with the search problem through "federated searching," where there is no local index, and each query is taken from the user and sent individually to various databases."

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6/05/2009

March/June 2009, No.107/108


President's Page

We interact with so many people in our daily working lives and yet few know us as individuals, few understand our jobs, and fewer still can be called real friends. At CAHSLA, we have something rarely found in a work environment. We get to know each other, appreciate each other, and befriend one another.

Yesterday, we had our year-end meeting in the form of a picnic. It has been a tradition for CAHSLA members for many years. The weather surprised us by co-operating. The Daniel Drake Park was perfect with its green lawns, majestically peaked shelter and even its nearby playground. We enjoyed Burbank’s B-B-Q and sides and gobbled up sweet desserts, all thanks to the Program Committee. We celebrated Barbarie’s birthday, applauded the out-going board members and announced the new officers. We took care of business and pleasure.

Personally and publicly, I would like to express my enthusiastic gratitude to the members of the CAHSLA 2008-2009 Board and especially to Regina Hartman, Vice President/Past President/Program Committee Chair, for all of her advice, support, and hard work to keep me performing as President of CAHSLA. We were also well-served by Cathy Constance, constant Treasurer and Membership Chair. Appreciation goes to Meredith Orlowski, Secretary, for keeping track of even the most disorganized or sketchy of meeting proceedings. Regina’s Program Committee members, Emily Kean and Amy Koshoffer, deserve high accolades for their part in executing the year’s programs. Lastly, I extend my appreciation for Lisa McCormick and Barbarie Hill for their ever-informative CAHSLA Chronicle.

Congratulations to the new officers, Amy Koshoffer, President, Meredith Orlowski, VP and Program Chair, and Emily Kean, Secretary. They will be ready to serve CAHSLA come summer’s end, along with continuing Treasurer, Cathy Constance and newsletter editors, Lisa McCormick and Barbarie Hill. In the meantime, relax and enjoy the respite and return nourished in body, mind, and spirit as we were at the end of yesterday’s year-end meeting.
– Val Purvis

Call for Action!

Further Library funding cuts proposed.

The Governor’s proposed state budget is considering a 50% cut to the Public Library Fund

a $6 million FURTHER cut to our Library funding—our primary funding source—

resulting in a 42% funding slash since 2000!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

ACT NOW! Time is of the essence. Let your legislators know that these cuts will do unacceptable damage to our communities. We cannot afford to lose half of our Libraries at a time when people need them most.

__________________________________________________________________________________________



2008-2009: The CAHSLA Year in Review

For the Program Planning Committee, CAHSLA’s 2008-2009 year was all about “newness.”


We started our year with a September meeting held at the new Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library at the University of Cincinnati. The building itself is a gorgeous combination of new and old, and we were given behind the scenes tours lead by Leslie Schick and Meredith Orlowski.


Our first meeting also incorporated a presentation by Leslie Sullivan-Stacey, President and CEO of the Lam Foundation. Amy Koshoffer worked very diligently to coordinate Leslie as a speaker. Leslie presented us with valuable information on lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) – a rare lung disease, about which many healthcare providers, even pulmonary specialists, are unaware.


The holiday meeting was held at the beautiful McCullough Homestead located in the Lindner Park/McCullough Estate Nature Preserve. The potluck style buffet was enjoyed by all. We collected thirty five children’s books to be donated to the Jump Start program. The holiday song lyric games proved to be a big hit. We were even fortunate enough to be provided with piano accompaniment for our holiday sing-a-long by visiting OVID representative, Chris Meidell.


In early 2009, as many of us were transitioning from Ovid to EBSCOhost for the CINAHL database, Regina Hartman arranged for Kathy Kiely from Ebsco to conduct a hands-on training session for CAHSLA members. A late January snow storm caused us to have an online training in February and the face-to-face session in March, but the wait was worth it, as Kathy provided invaluable tips for maximizing the search capacity of this new (to many of us) Ebsco interface.


Our year of touring newly renovated library spaces continued in April at the VA Library. Sandy Mason and Cathy Constance graciously hosted the meeting and provided tours of their new Learning Exchange Discovery Lab and library space. President Val Purvis also conducted a round robin at this meeting to keep us all up to date on our colleagues’ professional and personal news.


The June end of the year picnic was less about newness and more about tradition. For the second year in a row, we gathered in a local park shelter and socialized over a barbecue picnic. Amy and Regina’s daughters once again joined us, and Lisa brought her little dog, Latte. Regina found a park that was not only beautiful but aptly named after Dr. Daniel Drake, Cincinnati’s pioneer physician. The thunderstorms that were predicted for that evening held off, leaving us with a beautiful early summer day to enjoy our picnic. The strong winds blowing through the shelter might have been a problem, except for Jane Thompson’s resourceful supply of book ends in her car.


The newness theme was present at the picnic in one way: the new officers were announced, and Amy Koshoffer and I will be first-time CAHSLA officers, as President and Secretary, respectively. We’ll be joining Meredith Orlowski (Vice President) and Cathy Constance (Treasurer) as next year’s officers.


I’ve greatly enjoyed my two years on the CAHSLA Program Planning Committee, and as another year comes to an end, I’m looking forward to moving from planning the meetings to recording the meeting minutes. I can’t wait to see what 2009-2010 has in store for us!

-- Emily Kean



CAHSLA Meeting Minutes
Spring Business Meeting - April 30, 2009
Submitted by Meredith Orlowski

Attendees: Cathy Constance, Mike Douglas, Regina Hartman, Barbarie Hill, Emily Kean, Nonnie Klein, Amy Koshoffer, Sandra Mason, Lisa McCormick, Meredith Orlowski, Diana Osborne, Valerie Purvis, Cecil Rahe, Emily Rahe, Barb Slavinski, Edith Starbuck, and Jane Thompson
The CAHSLA spring business meeting came to order 5:50pm at the VA’s Learning Exchange Discovery Lab. Val Purvis thanked Cathy and Sandy for hosting the gathering. Prior to the start of the meeting, members went on a tour of the VA’s new Learning Exchange area. After the meeting, Sandy and Cathy gave a tour of their new library space.

Cathy Constance, Treasurer, reported that our treasury is healthy at $3,578. We have 35 members, many of whom are lifetime members. It was noted that in order to vote in the CAHSLA elections, members must have paid their dues by December 2008.

Regina Hartman provided the programming committee’s report. No place has been booked for the summer picnic yet, but it will be a similar idea to years past. Jane Thompson suggested Symmes Park (location of the Flower Show) because of its beauty and large shelter. However, some members felt that it is too far to drive to.

Regina also presented the new slate of officers for next year. She will be sending out ballots soon. The nominated officers are: Amy Koshoffer – President, Meredith Orlowski – Vice President, Emily Kean – Secretary, Cathy Constance –Treasurer. There were no nominations from the floor. The slate was accepted.

It was noted that both the Bylaws and the Procedures Manuals do not need to be updated this year. Barbarie also put the newest manuals on our website.

The Chronicle committee announced that there was no March newsletter. The next issue will come out in June (after MLA).

After the committee reports, members shared professional and personal updates.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm.


Also these are some of the notes from the Round Robin session:

• Wright State is closing their HSL (Fordam). It is merging with the main library.

• Angela left UC in January for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

• Lisa & Regina attended Ebsco update day. It was worth going to, they might have another one in the future.

• Barb Slavinski is actively involved with lit searches for Drake employees.

• Mike Douglas said that Penney was sick. He also mentioned problems with book thefts – 80 plus new books were stolen. However, books belonging to other area libraries were dropped off at his library with ownership labels marked out. (other members experienced similar problems of strange thefts and returns)

• Nonnie invited us to attend the Ohio Academy Medical History on May16 at OSU 9-3pm.

• Lisa attended OHSLA

• Meredith, Amy K, and Edith attended NN/LM Toxnet training in Columbus

• Emily and Cecil encouraged us to visit the new Bond Hill public library (formerly Roselawn). It was newly built and nice to see if we’re in the area.

• Sandy said that the VA staff still uses the library despite its new location

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CAHSLA Meeting Minutes

End of the Year Picnic – June 11, 2009
Submitted by Emily Kean, Secretary

Attendees: Carole Baker, Cathy Constance, Mike Douglas, Regina Hartman, Barbarie Hill, Emily Kean, Amy Koshoffer, Lisa McCormick, Meredith Orlowski, Val Purvis, Cecil Rahe, Emily Rahe, Don Smith, Edith Starbuck, and Jane Thompson

The CAHSLA End of the Year Picnic began at 5:30 p.m. at the Daniel Drake Park in Kennedy Heights. The meeting was catered by Burbank’s Real Bar-B-Q, with deserts provided by the Program Planning Committee.

The business meeting was called to order at 6:45 by President Val Purvis.

Regina Hartman announced that the CAHSLA election had received twenty-five votes. The elected officers for next year are: Amy Koshoffer, President; Meredith Orlowski, Vice-President/President Elect; Cathy Constance, Treasurer; and Emily Kean, Secretary.

Val then presented the outgoing officers, members of the Program Planning Committee, and Chronicle Editors with beautiful handmade glass pendant necklaces.

Regina presented Val with a Barnes & Noble gift card as a thank you for serving as President.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.



Medical Library Association Annual Meeting

The MLA 2009 annual meeting was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, and it was the most casual, laid-back MLA meeting I’ve ever attended. There were only about 1100 attendees, compared to the usual 2000 or more, and many of them appeared at the sessions in shorts and flip-flops. The speakers and presenters were good, the vendors' parties were fun with delicious food, and a lot of the casual talk was about “hard times” in the economy in general affecting libraries. Trends are toward going “digital only,” assigning librarians as informationists or “information specialists in context” (the old clinical librarian idea), and consolidating resources.

John P. McGovern Lecturer: Adam Bosworth, technology leader and innovator who was instrumental in building numerous technology products including Google Health, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and BEA WebLogic Integration and Workshop.
• Bosworth’s underlying premise is that the American health care system is broken. The term is also a misnomer because the system is really a sick care system. It doesn’t encourage or reward those who focus on prevention and keeping people healthy.
• Medicine is too complex for doctors to keep it all in their heads. They need decision-making tools, and librarians need to work on providing the content for these systems.
• Consumers must also be an integral part of the health care system, and electronic information is not enough. They need to understand what their health data means for them. Do they have a problem, and if so, how bad is it and what can they do about it. A computable health action plan is needed to deal with a problem.

Janet Doe Lecturer: J. Michael Homan, director of libraries and assistant professor of Medical Informatics and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN.
• Medical librarianship is the science and art of linking information and knowledge to important clinical, scientific and business decisions that must be made.
• Information isn’t the scarce resource—human time and attention is the scarce resource.
• Given the limits on human processing, it is clear that selectivity, not speed, is the name of the game.

Joseph Leiter lecturer: Ben Young, native Hawaiian psychiatrist and former faculty at John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii-Manoa, and Castle Medicle Center, Kailua, Oahu. He also helped build the voyaging canoe Hokule’a in the early 1970s and was the physician on its maiden voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii. Young gave a lively history of Hawaii focusing on medical aspects such as the diseases brought by Europeans that were so deadly for the previously-isolated native Hawaiians.

Terry Shintani, native Hawaiian physician with a law degree, a master’s degree in nutrition and board certification in preventive medicine, was the final plenary speaker of the conference. He spoke about the lifestyle choices we make and how they affect our health. In particular, he discussed his work in the Waianae Diet Program in which the participants had dramatic results in lowering cholesterol, reducing medication for diabetes and hypertension, and losing weight simply by changing their diet to eliminate processed foods. His books such as Eat More, Weigh Less Diet and The Good Carbohydrate Revolution might sound like all the other popular diet books on the bookstore shelves, but he has the academic credentials and the scientific evidence to back him up.


There were lots of good posters this year, and MLA has added a new feature on their web site that makes it possible for those who could not attend the meeting to enjoy the posters at their leisure. Check them out. I wasn't very successful with the search feature, but mine is #148 if you're looking for it.

-- Barbarie Hill



Free Online Training

We in the Pratt Library at Cincinnati Children's have been working on our first-ever strategic plan. In looking for guidance on how to approach this process, we of course Googled and found a wonderful site that we didn't know about and maybe you don't either. SirsiDynixInstitute.com offers a wide range of free, on-demand, library-focused webcasts including the one we were interested in, "Fast, Cheap and Decent Strategic Planning: More Effective Responses to Library User Needs." There are many other topics that look interesting as well, and most of them have slides or supplementary material that can be printed in pdf format. Check it out.
-- Alison Kissling


Mark Your Calendars and Make Reservations for Columbus

Registration will soon be open for this year's Midwest Chapter/MLA annual conference. Check out the web site and make your plans to attend now. rdThe CE offerings couldn't be better, and they're a bargain, too. Courses are being planned on a variety of edifying topics from which we can choose to start our conference experience on Saturday, October 3. We can learn how to make a podcast or how to develop a strategic plan. We can explore communicating with physicians or measuring our impact. We can advance our PubMed searching skills or learn more about understanding health care literature.

Saturday evening will be a great time to socialize and catch up with colleagues from around the region at a welcome reception in the Hyatt with appetizers and music to start the conference off on the right foot. Afterward we’ll have the opportunity to go on our own to the Short North Gallery Hop for dinner and shopping and enjoying the art.

Sunday will be a very busy day. The official conference program will hit the ground running (literally) with plenary speaker Clifford Stoll and fill the day with a panel discussion of “What Administrators Want,” an NLM/GMR update, contributed papers, time with vendors, and a business meeting. The events don’t stop there, though. In the evening we’ll enjoy a gala event with dinner, tours, and entertainment at the Ohio Statehouse.

Monday will be another full day featuring plenary speaker Lorcan Dempsey and an MLA update, a panel on “Scholarly Communication,” a poster session, and the GMR Technology Forum. It’s a full schedule, but we’ll have the evening to relax before more CE classes on Tuesday when we can learn about distance learning or emergency preparedness.

Several of your CAHSLA colleagues are working very hard on the planning committee to make this a productive and memorable conference for everyone. We hope you'll all plan to attend!


New NLM Journal Donation Program

NLM is launching a new program to ensure that its holdings of journals, indexes, and other serials are as complete as possible. Your library can help by donating print volumes that you no longer wish to retain. If you are a DOCLINE library, use the new Web based system to find out what NLM needs.

The system is easy to use. All you need is a list of the titles and volumes you are planning to discard. You can search by title words or phrases or by ISSN. The system searches your DOCLINE holdings so titles are retrieved quickly. If NLM does not need any volumes of a title, the system notifies you immediately. If NLM needs volumes, the system displays a list of them, and you just click on the volumes you will donate. For some titles, the system cannot do an automatic check on what volumes are needed. In these cases, the system will ask you to enter the volumes you can donate, and NLM will send you an email when we determine which volumes we need. You submit your offer electronically from the system. You can print your offer or save it to an Excel file. NLM will send an email to confirm receipt of your offer and to provide instructions on how to have NLM pay for shipping.

If you are not a DOCLINE library, please contact us at 301-496-0081 or at NLMJournalDonation@mail.nih.gov to make donations. NLM appreciates your help with this important program.


CAHSLA Colleagues

Professional Travels

Barbarie Hill (Children’s) was the only Cincinnati representative at this year’s MLA meeting in Honolulu. Barbarie presented a poster session titled “Library Role in Identifying Institutional Publications.”

Regina Hartman (The Christ Hospital) and Lisa McCormick (Jewish Hospital) participated in the EBSCO Resource Day Friday April 10th at Mt Carmel Health System West School of Nursing Auditorium hosted by Jodi Hetzel, EBSCO publishing, Biomedical Regional Sales Manager. The presentations included: Creative Purchasing in an Economic Downturn; How to Market Clinical Resources with New Technology and a review of new EBSCO products and interface enhancements. The Mt. Carmel School is beautiful and state-of-the-art. Not only was it a great opportunity to learn some new strategies from the professionals at EBSCO, but it included time to strategize with other librarians from the Ohio region struggling with similar challenges.

Lisa McCormick (Jewish Hospital) was again in Columbus for the OHSLA spring meeting on April 3rd also held at Mt. Carmel Health System and hosted by the library staff at Mt. Carmel. The meeting had a great representation from across the state and provided two CE courses.

Meredith Orlowski (UC Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library) attended the week-long How to Teach Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Workshop at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada the first week of June. McMaster University is known as “the birthplace of evidence-based medicine (EBM).”

Barbara Slavinski (The Drake Center) and Lisa McCormick (Jewish Hospital) will attend the Supporting Clinical Care: An Institute in Evidence-Based Practice for Medical Librarians at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire in early August. Angela Myatt, formerly of UC and now Curriculum Liaison Librarian, Briscoe Library University of Texas, Health Science Center at San Antonio, is a faculty member for the Institute.


Miscellaneous

Now that Don Smith (formerly of St. Elizabeth) is retired we hear that he keeps busy entertaining his grandkids and doing ‘power’ grocery shopping. Good to see you at the picnic, Don!

Congratulations to Alana Hartman daughter of
Regina Hartman (The Christ) and Greg Hopkins on her graduation from Loyola University. After a short summer stay in Cincinnati, Alana will be off to New York City.

Carol Mayor (formerly Mercy Health Partners Mt. Airy) was seen recently at the Mercy Health Center in Anderson. She is now volunteering at the Mercy hospital in Anderson.


It has become somewhat of a tradition for many CAHSLA Colleagues to volunteer for the annual “Upstairs Downstairs” Historic House Tour. A sunny and perfectly warm May 9th was the date for this year’s tour East Walnut Hills which showcased six architecturally distinct homes. The Cincinnati Preservation Association (CPA) benefits from the proceeds of the tour.
Mary Piper (UC Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library) is in a leadership role with CPA and invited CAHSLA Colleagues to volunteer. Some Colleagues volunteering in recent years have included: Shelley Paden, Regina Hartman, Edith Starbuck, Meredith Orlowski, Emily & Cecil Ray, and Lisa McCormick.



In the Literature and on the 'Net

From the Cincinnati Enquirer, June 1, 2009
What libraries are worth to us
It is needlessly provocative and shamelessly antagonistic behavior to pit books against technology. No one should ever do this. They are both sources of information. They are entirely different species, never meant to compete with each other.
None of which explains the delicious thrill some of us feel when we hear that book reading in the Public Library system of Cincinnati and Hamilton County skyrocketed 12.5 percent last year while audio-visual circulation climbed a "mere" 5.7 percent.

No insult to DVDs, CDs, Twitter, Flutter, Flipper, Dipper or Gumby. It's just great news to learn that books, whose death is periodically predicted, are no longer on the endangered list - at least not here. Last year 15.6 million items were checked out of the 41 libraries in the Hamilton County system. The Main Library downtown is the single busiest library in the nation despite serving the 34th largest market. People may have stashed their credit cards in a drawer, but 250,000 Hamilton County adults, teenagers and kids flashed their library "plastic" last year.
In lean times and fat times alike, the public library is the one place where it's always OK to overindulge.

The economy is no doubt a factor in the library's banner year. Not only did the borrow-rather-than-buy principle find new appeal, but people flocked to reference materials and programs that helped with job searches, resume writing and interview skills. Still, there is more to the library's appeal than economics. Much of it has to do with how a library makes you feel.

Sanctuary might be an overly serious word, but a library projects an unmistakable sense of civility and calm. Young and old come together peaceably here, rich and poor, readers of mysteries and lovers of ancient philosophy. A library is a bastion of non-judgementalism and one of society's great equalizers.

This atmosphere is in no way accidental. Librarians are almost eerily aware of what goes on inside your head. They know your tastes better than you do, being trained to cut through your vague references to plot or author and put their hands on what you need.

So they know, for example, about that independent streak that makes you want to handle your library business yourself. When 12 libraries put in self-checkouts last year, usage soared. There's something oddly empowering about knowing how to unlock DVD cases all by yourself.

Equally appealing is the library's unusual status as an intensely private public space. It's the one place you can move in the presence of others without saying a word and not be thought rude. The library "dance" is the epitome of socialized behavior, strangers gracefully giving way to one another as they peruse books and DVDs. Yes, cell phones ring and children sometimes use their playground voices, but library users still rank among the most civilized creatures on earth.

That is not to paint too Victorian a picture. The library's Web site had 87 million hits last year, making it the far busiest "branch" in the family. Patrons download audio books onto their MP3 players and reserve books at 3 a.m. from the privacy of their home computers. This week, the library's summer reading program kicks off for children, teens and - this year - adults. There are prizes to be won, plus you get smarter. Nice way to spend a summer.

Next fall, Hamilton Countians may be asked to support a library levy. The state has cut $10 million from the local system, and its reserves are being eaten through.

It wouldn't hurt a bit, as we enjoy their bounty this summer, to think about what public libraries are worth to us, and how to keep them strong. Bad economy or good, it's never wise to let such a gem slip through our fingers.

Krista Ramsey is a member of the Enquirer Editorial Board; kramsey@enquirer.com

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From MedLib-L, May 8, 2009
NEJM on Kindle
I have a Kindle (based on a recommendation by one of my docs) and just found out that they have added New England Journal of Medicine to their magazine subscription offers. For $8.99 per month you can get it delivered wirelessly and automatically to your Kindle 1 or 2 or DX. You can buy the May 7th issue now for $4.49 as a one shot deal. I expect we'll see a lot more of this. With the new DX larger format, can electronic medical textbooks for students be far behind. One of my doctors says he doesn't even want to read the print journals he gets as a member of his subspecialty medical organization. He accesses the journal online each time it comes out and downloads pdf versions of the articles he's interested in, emails to Amazon to re-format for the Kindle for a quarter and keeps them on his Kindle. Lots of airline and vacation reading at his fingertips or when he's waiting for a case. If he requests an article from me on a medical condition, he does the same thing. Then he's never hunting for that photocopy on his desk or remembering that he left it at home or in his office when he needs it at the hospital. Very convenient and he says he's really pleased with how much more on top of the literature and his cases he is. It makes him much more efficient and "up on things".

Joy Kennedy, MLS
Health Resource Library
Northwest Community Hospital
800 W. Central Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005-2392
Phone: 847-618-5180; Fax 847-618-5189
email: j1kennedy@nch.org; library@nch.org

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How Evidence-Based is UpToDate Really? The debate among librarians on the value of this prohibitively expensive, high-demand resource goes on ... See a summary of opinion at http://laikaspoetnik.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/how-evidence-based-is-uptodate-really

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Don’t forget the Quality journals.

Karen Wells and Jenny Garcia just published an excellent advocacy [article] in the Journal for Healthcare Quality. It has many good points and an excellent bibliography. Karen and Jenny co-developed the Myths and Truths presentation on MLANET. This was brought to my attention by Margaret Bandy. It’s also at this time open-access online.
Knowledge-Based Information to Improve the Quality of Patient Care
Jenny L. Garcia , Karen K. Wells
Journal for Healthcare Quality
Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 30–35, 2009
.... http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121675417/HTMLSTART
-- Roz Dudden

I asked Jenny about their process for getting this article published. She said “We just sent the manuscript in with a cover letter. We didn’t even call first to see if they might be interested. I had honestly expected to get a few rejections before it was accepted. I encourage anyone to send articles to non-library journals. Most have not published anything on libraries before and it is a new topic for them.” -- Margaret

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“Medtronic paid doctor accused of false study” and “Merck paid for fake journal” are two recent headlines you may have read. A June 19th Reuters news item refers to a Wall Street Journal story that “Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. paid almost $800,000 in consulting fees to a former U.S. army surgeon accused of fabricating a key study.” According to the item, Timothy Kuklo, now an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis is accused of faking a study that reported positive findings for a Medtronic bone growth product, Infuse. The story also goes on to state that Kuklo “forged signatures of purported co-authors of the study.” Kuklo publishes his report in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery in August 2008. In March 2009 JBJS retracted the article. Sen. Grassley (R., Iowa) is looking into the allegations because of the links to the Department of Defense and Walter Reed Army Hospital where Kuklo was employed at the time he submitted the article.

World media goliath Elsevier is linked to an alleged scheme by pharmaceutical giant Merck to produce several volumes of a fake peer-reviewed journal, the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine, to publish articles favorable to Merck products. The fake journal is described as a “creative marketing strategy” that was formatted to appear as a respected, peer-reviewed publication. The journal was never selected for indexing by Medline/Pubmed and is said to have only contained summaries of select articles with favorable data on Merck products. There was no disclosure in the journal of Merck’s sponsorship. For more information search the website TheScientist.com


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From Chronicle of Higher Education, June 12, 2009
Google Books Mutilates the Printed Past
by Ronald G. Musto
“That massive text-digitization project, working in collaboration with several of the world's most important library collections, has now made available, in both PDF and text view, tens of thousands of 19th-century titles while it awaits the results of a legal settlement to determine whether and how it will make available tens of thousands of 20th-century works. Meanwhile Google Books offers scholars all the pitfalls and benefits of using the research results of the 19th century … While that is no substitute for primary research in the archives or in manuscript collections, it's truly a revolution in research on previously edited and published documents. For the history of late medieval Naples, with its relative paucity of physical archives and its dependence on later editions, Google Books is a godsend… In its frenzy to digitize the holdings of its partner collections, in this case those of the Stanford University Libraries, Google Books has pursued a "good enough" scanning strategy. The books' pages were hurriedly reproduced: No apparent quality control was employed, either during or after scanning. The result is that 29 percent of the pages in Volume 1 and 38 percent of the pages in Volume 2 are either skewed, blurred, swooshed, folded back, misplaced, or just plain missing. A few images even contain the fingers of the human page-turner. (Like a medieval scribe, he left his own pointing hand on the page!) Not bad, one might argue, for no charge and on your desktop. But now I'm dealing with a mutilated edition of a mutilated selection of a mutilated archive of a mutilated history of a mutilated kingdom — hardly the stuff of the positivist, empirical method I was trained in a generation ago.”






CAHLSA Calendar

Enjoy the summer!

Oct. 3-6 Midwest Chapter/MLA annual conference, Columbus, OH