ACP Pier --- Free Trial of their Interface

ACP Pier is a point of care, Web-based decision support tool that was recently ranked by the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association as the leading EB point of care clinical tool compared to 13 other major ebm resources (inluding UTD, E-medicine, Dynamed to name a few)

I love ACP Pier. We have it via the Stat-Ref interface. So I guess what I mean to say is that I love the content of ACP Pier and the interface and usability of Stat-Ref is ...well... you know not everybody's favorite.

Well I just received a letter today from ACP themselves and it looks like they are getting into the business of licensing their own inteface to institutions. Up until this time their inteface was available only to ACP members.

To take a look at the interface go to: www.acponline.org/college/misc/pier_trial.htm

Social Networking comes to Health Care

Wall Street Journal article, 12/27/2006 "Social Networking comes to health care," (available online to subscribers) discusses the revolution of social networking is having on healthcare "at the same time that new Internet technologies and software programs are making it easier than ever for consumers to find timely, personalized health information online."

Reviews 6 websites and how they are adopting social-networking, custom-search and new interactive technology.

INSPIRE and RFP Process for a new suite of databases

IHSLA Members:
We all benefit from the suite of databases offered by INSPIRE. For the first time since 2001, INCOLSA is currently going through a RFP process for new database platforms. Part of this process has been the assembly of a Database Evaluator team, part of which myself (IHSLA) and Carolyn Martin (CIHSLC) are both representing and assisting.
The current Ebsco package will done in June of 2007. Four database proposals have been submitted that make up the large part of the database suite. There are two proposals from EBSCO, one from Gale and one from Wilson.
I will be evaluating these databases and my evaluations must be in by Jan. 8th. I am welcoming all comments and suggestions about this process from IHSLA as a whole.
1) I am able to give the username and password to our members for there perusual of both the databases and the entire RFP process. 2) It is important that if you request the username and password from me or Carolyn or Elaine, that you do NOT send in your own personal evaluations to INCOLSA. The username and password give me access to the evaluation forms, but they stressed that they only wanted the forms coming from the evaluator team.
If you have any questions about this please feel free to give me a call.
It is important that our voice is heard! The statistics for the health related databases have gone up significantly since 2004!
Health Business FullText: increased from 149,000 to 398,990 searches.
Health Source: Nursing/Academic: increased from 298, 924 to 550,134 searches.
Thank you,
Chris Bishop
317-355-3600
crbishop@ecommunity

The Changing Library and Googling a diagnosis

Check out these two different approaches (of course one written by a physcian and one by MLS'ers

Googling a Diagnosis:

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/rapidpdf/bmj.39003.640567.AEv1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&title=google&andorexacttitle=and&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

The Changing Library:

http://www.mssm.edu/msjournal/73/73_6_pages_857_863.pdf

Registering for IHSLA 2007

Greetings!
Yes it's that time again - time to renew your IHSLA Membership for 2007. And to save time and energy simply request or mail that check right now. Renewals are due by April 1st - but why wait til the last minute?. Just follow these simple steps:
Visit our website @ http://enterprise.palni.edu/~ihsla/
Click on "Membership Directory" and check your listing.
Then go to "Join/Renew" and click on "membership form".
Print off the form and complete.
If everything is accurate on the "Membership Directory" just write "No Change" on your renewal form - be sure to put your name on your return - and return with your check for $10.00.
Get out your calendar for April 2007.
On April 26th & 27th write "I'll be in Lafayette for IHSLA's Annual Meeting" - Patty and her team have a terrific program planned!
Now relax, breathe deeply and pat yourself on the back. Good Job! You've renewed your membership for 2007 and scheduled your professional renewal time in Lafayette.
Within the next few months you will receive your registration packet and will be invited to join us all in Lafayette. In the meantime, just keep checking our website for updates and detailed meeting information. And, yes, we are offering one lucky member a stipend to attend .The stipend will cover full conference registration and two nights lodging (mileage reimbursement* may be selected in lieu of one nights lodging - recipient's choice.) An application form is available on the IHSLA website http://enterprise.palni.edu/~ihsla/index.html


Thanks Scott!

MLA Emerging Technologies Webcast @ IU "Moving at the speed of Byte"

IHSLA Members:
I have Room 303 at the Ruth Lilly Medical Library reserved for this webcast on November 8 at 2 pm EST. All are welcome to attend but I need a head count in order to prepare manuals and may need to change the room so let me know if you plan to attend.
Peggy Richwine

Check out the following link about the webcast:
http://www.mlanet.org/education/distance_ed/technologies/

Survey and Measuring Tools

Yesterday on our listserv there was a question in regards to finding surveys, measuring tools/instruments.

The best database that I know of to find these types of things is:
HAPI
Health and Psychosocial Instruments provides ready access to information on measurement instruments (i.e., questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, coding schemes/ manuals, rating scales, projective techniques, vignettes/scenarios, tests) in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior, and library and information science.

However, I heard from Randi Stocker (IUPUI) who said that Sally Neal, at IUPUI, has put together a great list of Tests & Measures resources for Psychology. (Some of the resources are only available in print, while others are electronic.) http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/subjectareas/psychology/tests.html
Thanks for the heads up Randi. I have not yet had a chance to look over these resources but I immediately added them to my reference favorites on del.ici.us (dont know what del.ici.us is? that will be another post)

Direct Link to Newsweek article and the current PBS documentary

Scott Loma, St. Johns gave me the direct link to the article, nice catch!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15175919/site/newsweek/page/2/

These all go well with the PBS four part documentary on "Remaking American Medicine"
http://www.pbs.org/remakingamericanmedicine/

Newsweek "Fixing America's Hospitals"

For the Hospital Librarians out there, check out this week's Newsweek feature "Fixing America's Hospitals" then send the link to your movers and shakers within your hospital.

For those of you who do not subscribe to Newsweek, it is part of the Indiana Ebsco Inspire package under "Academic Search Elite" but has not yet been loaded in the Health Bussiness FullTEXT database.

One More EBM article of note

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060926/HEALTH/609260330/-1/NEWS01

Another great comment

Hey just wanted to give the readers a heads up again on a great comment/commentary posted by Chris Kiess out of Columbus on last week's EBM article http://ihsla.blogspot.com/2006/09/ebm-who-says-whats-best.html

Dont forget this is a sharing site. Ideas, input, suggestions, thoughts, feedback etc... all help in making a great newsletter / blog.

Chris B.

IHSLA 2007 Meeting: Location and Date Announcement

IHSLA 2007 Meeting: Location and Date Announcement

Date: Thursday and Friday, April 26-27 2007

Location: Holiday Inn Select/Lafayette- City Centre. The address is 515 South St., Lafayette, IN

Near: almost right next door to the Tippecanoe County Public Library, walking distance to Purdue University, and right in the heart of the historic/artistic/shopping/restaurant district of Downtown Lafayette.

Hospital Survey

I realized after posting the information about the Hospital Survey from MLA that they give a link to show who has already taken the survey, be sure to check before filling it out....

About 550 librarians have already provided us with data; a listing, by state/territory and by city, of institutions that have already responded is available at < http://www.mlanet.org/survey/hlsr.html

EBM: Who Says what's best?

US News and World Report commentary on Evidence Based Medicine "Who says what's best" http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/060903/11healy.htm

Vital Pathways Hospital Library Survey

We are writing to you on behalf of the Medical Library Association (MLA), the MLA Hospital Libraries Section, and MLA's Vital Pathways Task Force. We are conducting a joint survey concerning the state of hospital libraries and librarianship today. No national survey of this kind has been done since 1990 when the American Hospital Association Resource Center, in conjunction with AHA’s Hospital Data Center, conducted a study of library services in hospitals. The Survey of Hospital Libraries is designed to gather data regarding the number of hospitals that have professional librarians on their staffs and the types of library services that are available to hospital and medical staff, patients, and consumers. This is part of a larger initiative by MLA to determine the current status of health sciences librarians who work in hospitals. About 550 librarians have already provided us with data; a listing, by state/territory and by city, of institutions that have already responded is available at < http://www.mlanet.org/survey/hlsr.html>. We would appreciate your forwarding the following message to your members by September 29, 2006. This message is being sent to state health sciences library groups and consortia, as well as MLA’s chapters. Many thanks for your help in collecting this valuable data. If you have questions, please contact me at corcoran@mlahq.org or 312.419.9094 x12. -- Kate C.===================================PLEASE FORWARD THE FOLLOWING===================================ATTENTION HOSPITAL LIBRARIANS!This message is being forwarded on behalf of the Medical Library Association (MLA), the MLA Hospital Libraries Section, and MLA's Vital Pathways Task Force. These groups are conducting a joint survey concerning the state of hospital libraries and librarianship today. The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete. You WILL need some basic information about the hospital: AHA-reported bed size and the most recent year's number of inpatient and outpatient visits, so you may want to collect this information before starting. MLA has been collecting this data from a number of sources, so if you are not sure if you've already taken the survey, a listing, by state/territory by city, of institutions that have already responded is available at < http://www.mlanet.org/survey/hlsr.html>. If there is more than one librarian on staff in your hospital, be sure to work with them and submit only one report for your library. Institutional and library statistical information will be kept confidential and used for aggregate statistical reporting only. Please take the time to complete this survey by October 30, 2006; direct any questions to Kate Corcoran at MLA Headquarters, corcoran@mlahq.org. Your assistance is essential to help make this project a success. The survey results will be made available to survey respondents, the health sciences library field, and other interested parties and will be used for future strategic initiatives. Thank you very much in advance for your participation in this important survey! TAKE THE SURVEY NOW: < http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225NCSFRUDJ>

I received the following comment from Chris Kiess in Columbus. It is a comment on the previous blog entry "Big Help for Small Business at their local library" -- I thought I would share more prominently. For you Blog newbies, you can leave comments, ideas or suggestions after every blog entry.

I read this story ("Big Help for Small Business at their local library") late yesterday evening and had both positive and negative thoughts on it. While I do think it is wonderful libraries are getting this sort of publicity in a newspaper as prominent as the WSJ, I also tend to be a bit more evaluative and critical of the story itself and the events reported on. At what point do we decide a library is being exploited rather than put to good use? Providing a service for a small business which will eventually profit from free resources so that this same business does not have to pay consultant fees could be seen as exploiting the library in some sense. The counterpoint to this is that this same small business may contribute to the local economy and the information gained was probably free rather than fee-based anyway. Moreover, should libraries begin charging fees for services, then they cease to play the same sociological role as they do in societies now.One of my problems with this entire scenario is that there becomes this perceived idea in the mind of the public regarding the nature of information in an economic sense. Not only do people think information can be found and accessed at the drop of a hat in our world today, they also believe this information to be free. My own library here in Columbus pays tons of money (in relation to the size of the hospital) each month to access information and every week I will have a nurse or doctor express disbelief that we pay for the journal articles they order. In a sense, this devalues my service since those could be considered hidden costs.Information is certainly not easy to access in our world today. One would suppose the advent of the Internet provides greater access to information. Yet, the opposite is true in paradoxical fashion. Information – good information – is more difficult to access today and more expensive than it has ever been. Keeping this in mind, I cannot help but throw the old question out there concerning when libraries (and, when I say libraries, I am generally referring to public libraries) are going to wake up and begin charging for their services. In a historical sense, libraries were once a gathering point for a community and played a sociological role in a society. Today it is a place where people can go to borrow free DVDs instead of paying for this service at the local video store. Today, libraries are a place where people can come to serve their own purposes by using the reference librarian to help them research for the start-up of a small business instead of paying consultant fees. This article begins by stating libraries are attempting to adapt to new changes in the world. I question this statement and think public libraries and the people who run them are not changing or adapting. They are asleep at the wheel and have been for many years now. They have ceased to function as they once did in a society and each time they provide another service that would normally be a fee-based service, they not only pull away from the economy, but also devalue themselves and their own services. -- Chris Kiess

PubMed Class, TOXNET, and Clinical Trials.gov training!

This note came from Peggy Richwine -- Thank you Peggy!

The PubMed class is worth the time for anyone just getting started as a health sciences librarian. And it's FREE.
We don't have one scheduled for Indianapolis in the near future so you may want to take advantage of this one in Chicago.

Just a quick reminder that the deadline to sign up for these classes is approaching quickly!
The National Training Center and Clearinghouse (NTCC) will be offering three free hands-on classes hosted by the NN/LM Greater Midwest Region, University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences located at 1750 W. Polk Street, Chicago, Illinois 60612
PubMed - Wed Sept 27, 2006, 8:30am to 5:00pm
TOXNET - Thur Sept 28, 2006, 9:00am to 4:00pm
Gateway/ClinicalTrials.gov - Fri Sept 29, 2006, 8:30am to noon
All the training sessions are free and intended for health sciences library staff, health professionals, and anyone interested in using these free National Library of Medicine (NLM) databases. The NLM Gateway is of particular interest to public and consumer health librarians. The Clinical Trials database is of interest to anyone concerned with consumer health.
The TOXNET(r) class and database focus on environmental health and toxicology.
Register today at:
http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/request.html
Visit the NTCC website to learn more about these classes:
http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/schedule.html
For other classes in the region, visit
http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/regions.html#Greater
Visit the GMR calendar often for upcoming exhibits, meetings and other events http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/events.cfm?curOrg=NNLMGMR
The Cornflower, the GMR blog, is available online at:
http://nnlm.gov/gmr/blog/

Frank Bradway Rogers Award

Nominate a professional colleague you admire, your professional team, or yourself (!) for the Frank Bradway Rogers, M.D. Award! This juried award is presented annually at the MLA Annual Conference in recognition of outstanding contributions for the application of technology to the delivery of health science information, to the science of information, or to the facilitation of the delivery of health science information.

The award has been sponsored by the Thomson Institute for Scientific Information since 1973, and was formerly named the ISI Information Advancement Award. The recipient receives a cash award of $500 and will be recognized at the Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, May 13-23, 2007, in Philadelphia, PA.

For more information on the award and past winners go to:

http://www.mlanet.org/awards/honors/rogers.html

For a copy of the nomination form, eligibility information and instructions go to:

http://www.mlanet.org/pdf/awards/rogers_nomform_2005_0721.pdf

All nominations are due by November 1, 2006. Please forward this message to colleagues who might be interested.

Jan Rice, Chair, 2006-2007 Thomson Scientific/Frank Bradway Rogers Award Jury

Paul Blobaum, Assistant Professor p-blobaum@govst.edu Health Professions Liaison University Library, Governors State University University Park, IL 60466

Big Help for Small Business at their local library

I came across this Tuesday August 29th Wall Street Journal article Big Help for Small Business and thought it was very intersting.

IHSLA 2007 Meeting

Elaine S., Stephanie S., and myself (along with a ton of notes and ideas from Patty L) got together for our first programming meeting for IHSLA 2007.

We came up with a ton of good ideas, utilizing our own ideas and input from our member groups. I will be summarizing these notes and posting to the listserv and the blog, but first I need to get them together and go over with Patty L.

I just wanted to let our membership know that we are working on it, and we are still open to suggestions, comments, etc......

Thank you,
Chris Bishop
IHSLA 2006-07 President

UpToDate....Thanks for a BASIC service

Just received word from my UpToDate rep. that they have "fixed" their web based statisitcal counting too..... which is like getting excited when your cell company actually tells you how many minutes you have used.

Now if we could just work on the price structure AND if we could work on the standards of how, when and what is reviewed for their topics AND incorporate more features like BRANDING and Direct E-mail out of their interface to a librarian.

Want to see my stats? Knock yourself out.... http://www.utdol.com/utd/user/usage.do?key=71BBA2
I guess that Dynamed or FirstConsult trial just went out the window.

And before you go jump off a building I have a chart of statistics to show that my other e-resources have actually went up or stayed steady with the advent of UpToDate -- I guess our users did not ALWAYS find the answer there like they try to tell me.

Wiki? What? Wiki!

What is a Wiki? Well Wikipedia (get it?)defines it as: (pronounced , or ; see Pronunciation below) is a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. Wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website (see Wiki software).

It is part of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Remember Blogs? (what you are reading!)The phrase Web 2.0 was coined by O'Reilly Media to refer to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services that let people collaborate and share information online in a new way—such as social networking sites, wikis and communication tools. -- wikipedia 2006

I came across three library related wiki's on davidrothman.net � Blog Archive � Librarian Wikis ... Just a side note, this is a great technical hospital library blog.

The anticipated health library related wiki comes from Dean Giustini and his blog UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog announcing the UBC HealthLib-Wiki.... : Dean says"UBC HealthLib-Wiki will have a mission similar to this (his) blog, but with more of an encyclopedic approach to expert searching, e-resources and search tools for health librarians"

Forward on in your Hospital! Research role expands at community hospitals

Well the late July early doldrums are over. I have been lax in posting, because our library has been inundated with projects and requests.

I came across the following article yesterday:
Research role expands at community hospitals it is quoted as saying "Across the country, tighter finances and tougher competition are prompting many community hospitals to move beyond their core business of administering tests and performing surgery. Increasingly, they are doing cutting-edge research that had been left to universities, drug companies and government laboratories."

An excellent article highlighting the economic, public relations, marketing and ethical aspects of expansion of research at community hospitals. This is an article that you should send to your Medical Director, IRB, Ethics, Nursing Research committees, as well as Finance, Administration and Marketing people.

Coyright and Photos, Images, Streaming Video

I am interested in hearing what other hospital librarians are doing about their institutions use of Photos, Images and Streaming Video. Do you sit back and say our users won't listen and they will use whatever they can find on the internet? Do you attempt to have pathfinders for them to find good usable, copyright free, photos? Is it addressed in your hospital/network copyright policy?

Does your network/hospital have a copyright policy? If not become an expert! It can be great exposure. A former librarian here, Lauren Rider, took this under and it has payed off huge dividends for our library within our institution.

Not only did she tackle copyright issues and create our network policy, she did this in conjuction with our Hospital Compliance expert who was willing to not only work with Lauren but also to allow her to take everything on, so as she had one less thing on her plate.

Copyright within our large institution is now an important part of copyright compliance. It is taught to new orientees (along with several references to the medical library :) as well as part of two online questions on our Network Compliance Online Test. This is great exposure! Copyright has allowed me to be involved in some great projects. I was included on our Network E-Learning Council solely because of copyright knowledge.

We are now tackling the issue of images and streaming video and although this goes back to copyright policies and licensing issues, it is important for the library to provide resources for our users and something that I want my library at the forefront of. We are looking at the Ebsco Scientific & Medical ART Imagebase and some others..... Any suggestions or thoughts?

Attend the SLA Great Lakes Regional Conference!

posted for Christina Bennett, President of the Indiana Chapter of the Special Libraries Association...

Are you looking for a professional development and networking opportunity?

Meet with colleagues, enhance your skills, take advantage of smaller conference fees, and visit a location close to home. Plan to attend the Great Lakes Regional Conference -- a regional Special Libraries Association conference.

Our program is robust with something for everyone. Our presenters will touch on topics such as text mining, negotiating, searching, business resources, collaboration, renovations, and working with the National Library of Medicine. Our keynote speakers are Rebecca Vargha, SLA President, and Jeffrey Cufaude, the Idea Architect. We are pleased to have such reputable presenters signed up for our event. For more information about our program visit: http://www.in-sla.org/GLRC/presentations.htm.

University Place Hotel is a beautiful, hip location for our event. The meeting space is state of the art with spacious seating and ergonomically designed chairs. Several restaurants and lounging areas are located inside the hotel. Parking is included in the conference fee as is lunch on Thursday. Take a moment to check out the hotel’s website - www.universityplace.iupui.edu. Be sure to mention the GLRC when booking your room.

The hospitality committee has planned two fabulous receptions: one for Wednesday night at University Place Hotel and a second one on Thursday night at the Indiana State Library. We will provide appetizers, and tours of the State Library. We can vouch for the food selected-- we sampled it all!

The conference location is just a few blocks away from downtown Indianapolis which offers shopping, unique dining, and cultural events. For more information visit: http://www.indydt.com/restaurantstemplate.asp.

Don’t delay, register today! To register, visit http://www.in-sla.org/GLRC/registration.htm.

Christina Bennett-McNew, MLS
InSLA President

New ACRL Advocacy Toolkit

This was brought to my attention from Stephanie Schulte at IPFW. It is a new Advocacy Toolkit available from the Association of College and Research Librarians. It inludes case studies, graphics, templates, publicity materials etc....

Flying O2 tank: Reference Question -- Very Long

I posted this recently on the MEDLIB listserv. It is from a reference question that I worked on and the deluge of emails that I received as a result:

Summary on the Flying O2 tank:

I struck an investigational nerve with this one. Below is my summary, mixed in with some editorial content. I received a ton of e-mail and I thank everybody. I have used some of the quotes from those e-mails without identifying people or institutions.

I received a request to find out about a nurse that was killed by a flying O2 tank that directly resulted from the tank becoming airborne and/or missile like because its contents were breeched (a fracture, or valve break)

This question came to me on the heels of a JACHO visit where our institution was reminded that all O2 tanks need be properly secured.
Because there is the possibility of an O2 tank falling and the resulting fall breeching the tank or damaging the valve and its pressurized contents then "rocketing" or "projecting" the tank.

I feel that I have come to the determination that this is possible.
There are no arguments there. By searching news accounts, scientific literature and even remembering an "episode of the Mythbusters where the hosts attempted to see if the could get an O2 take to explode like the end of the movie 'Jaws'. It didn't explode, but several times became a VERY damaging missile when it was breached and the air shooting out propelled it like a rocket."

So it can happen. But the person who originally requested this search not only swears that this 02 tank became missile like but also killed a nurse. This is where it begins to feel like an "Urban Legend"

First, there is the very well documented case from New York. "Projectile Cylinder Accidents Resulting from the Presence of Ferromagnetic Nitrous Oxide or Oxygen Tanks in the MR Suite" from the American Journal of Roentgenology (PMID: 11418392).

http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/abstract/177/1/27?ijkey=0944674ac1d
1c67

This is where a 6 year old was killed by an O2 tank that "flew" into an MRI machine. So we have a well documented case of an O2 tank flying and causing death.

Next, I could not go two steps on the Internet without stumbling across a nursing policy about properly securing O2 tanks and inevitable 1 out of 5 of them would then say "causing the tank to become missile like and causing injury or even death."

As with any written word, some people are going to read the above as it is possible and take every precaution to prevent and others are going to read the above and think that it has caused death in past and then repeat this as "fact" thus perpetuating a possible urban legend.

Here are two good examples from e-mails I received "This query appealed to me because before becoming a medical librarian, I was a Registered Respiratory Therapist for 25 years. I remember hearing accounts of this incident, regarding the death of a nurse in the operating room when the oxygen tank became a missile.

I searched both Cinahl and Medline, using various combinations of operating room personnel, oxygen, tanks, death etc. and searched the early literature, all to no avail. Since the earlier lit was either selectively indexed in Medline (like Respiratory Care) and there are not a lot of abstracts from that time (1960's and 1970's) I could not locate the article. Perhaps someone else will have better luck. Let me know if you find it!" another example is with this e-mail "Our Resp Ther people have actually seen a situation where a tank shot down the hall and slammed into, went into a brick wall. Not here, luckily, but another institution. The nurse getting killed may be an urban legend, although a young boy (I think it was) was killed by MRI pulling a metal object that hit him. That I recall from about five years ago."

I too have checked MEDLINE, CINAHL, Lexis (although I am not an expert legal searcher,) Nexis, other newspaper databases, consulted our quality control expert, was unable to get anything from anyone at JCAHO, and several other sources.

So you have common sense that this could happen, an instance where an O2 tank did fly and kill and you have healthcare workers being constantly warned that it could or has happened. You have the person who knows a person who has seen it happen, and you have a popular television show that depicts the potential harm...... The question still remains. Did it happen and is it documented?

Chris Bishop
Manager of Library Services
317-355-3600 phone
317-351-7816 fax
crbishop@ecommunity.com

Community Health Network
Library Network
1500 North Ritter
Indianapolis, IN 46219

Emergency Responders Rely on Smartphones and Handhelds to Gain Quick Access to Reference Materials During Hazardous-Materials Incidents

National Library of Medicine in conjuction with Palm are distributing free Hazardous-Materials reference materials for downloading on Palm products. Read the whole article here http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060726005162&newsLang=en

Show me the money! SHOW ME THE MONEY!!

Our institution does a salary review of all job grades every year. This is a plus and a con, I ,at least, GET to go before the HR jury every year to plead my case for my job and department, but on the other hand I get to go before the HR jury EVERY year to plead my case for my job and department.

About the only ammunition that our HR folks seem to take into consideration are "salary calculators", local averages, job competencies, and salary surveys. Well luckily my professional institution (MLA) provides such a tool for a modest fee. So when I ordered and received the Hay Salary Survey, I eagerly opened up the file to read what percentages my colleagues fell into, how much people were making, how I and my hospital stacked up etc.... I learned lots of information and gained knowledge and firepower for my meeting except for one small instance. There were a TOTAL of 10 respondents from the State of Indiana. 10! And I can tell you right now where three of those bad boys came from -- my office! Well you can imagine that such statistics aren't going to hold as much water as they would if say the pool of numbers was a tad larger. I got an idea lets all complain that we do not get paid enough, but lets make sure we just complain to eachother and not actually DO anything that might help our cause. ARRGGGHH! So I will take this as a pretty large agenda item if and when the next Salary Survey comes out. Below are the Percentiles for Indiana (10 responses remember...)as taken from the Hay Salary Survey 2005, MLA

10 Percentile
33,270

25 Percentile
36,270

P50/Median
49,500

P75th
53,000

P90th
60,328

Mean
47,308

Marketing and Public Relations Roundtable - MLA

I had the opportunity to participate in a Marketing and Public Relations Roundtable during my first MLA meeting in Phoenix this year. It was an excellent use of my time. Great networking. There were lots of discussions, great ideas and just good "energy"!

The Roundtables cover a variety of topics including Copyright, Blogging, Outreach, EBM and Management just to name a few. All of the minutes from each Roundtable can be viewed here: Chapter Council Roundtables

Ideas that were exchanged that we have implemented or want to include: Developing a 30- minute lunch time drop in program (away from the library), utilizing distribution lists that may already exist in your network's e-mail programs to send out specific and targeted e-mail marketing. Here at Community, such distribution lists exist for "all pharmacy", "all clinical", or more specific "Magnet" and "Infection Control". We have utilized these distribution lists for e-mail marketing and I feel like I get a better response to these specific emails versus sending out to all users.

Evidence-Based Practice: a new paradigm brings new opportunities for health sciences librarians.

In keeping with my August theme of library advocacy and marketing I was alterted to the following article Evidence-Based Practice: a new paradigm brings new opportunities for health sciences librarians by our VP Stephanie Schulte.

Master List of Medlib Blogs

David Rothman has created a wiki for all Medlib related blogs, the wiki itself can be seen here Medlib Wiki
, be sure to scroll down.

Good Google, Bad Google

I read a good portion of the #1 Best NY Times Bestseller "You The Smart Patient: An insider's handbook for getting the best treatment" over the weekend.

This book was on the reading list for our administrative types as well as being the subject of a book club. I was glad to see a section discussing the ins and outs of interpreting medical studies as well as how to manage finding RELIABLE information on the internet for consumers. In fact, one section was entitled 'Good Google, Bad Google' and the authors went on to list "best health-related" web sites, inlcuding: www.ahrq.gov, AMA, CDC, Cochrane and on and on. Medlineplus.gov did make the cut in this section, while UpToDate's consumer did -- which was a tad baffling to me.

All in all a pretty good consumer informational book on the correct pathway to navigate your medical needs from finding information, finding a doctor, hospital stays and other medically related needs.

JAMA + Archives Online Subscription Tier Change

This may already be old news but see the letter below:

To better serve our customers, we are in the process of simplifying our site licensing pricing model for JAMA & the Archives Journals. This effort will provide greater transparency in our pricing by allowing published rates that facilitate automated sales.

Beginning in 2007, the journals will be moving to a five-tier pricing structure based on institution type for the great majority of our current clientele. Tiers were developed by studying the tier structures of other medical publishers, as well as analyzing our current customer base. This change is intended to provide more pricing stability to institutional customers. It will also simplify the renewal process by eliminating the need to verify FTE’s for many of our customers on a yearly basis.

We have included a simple survey (below) for you to assist us in verifying the correct tier for your institution. Please complete and return this form no later than July Friday July 28th so that we may expedite your 2007 quote.

JAMA & ARCHIVES SITE LICENSE SURVEY

INSTITUTION NAME: DATE:
CONTACT NAME: Phone #:
Email:
SITE LICENSE ACCOUNT #:

SENT BY SALES REP: Saskia Volkers
Please check the definition that best fits your institution. If you do not fit into one of the definitions listed, please give a brief description of your institution and why it doesn’t fit, in the area marked “Notes”:

Tier E:

 University Systems: with Multiple Medical Schools and/or Teaching Hospitals (with up to 5 teaching hospital locations total)
 Hospitals with up to 5 locations (including offsite clinics)


Tier D:

 Universities with a single medical school
 Single site hospitals


Tier C:

 Masters Colleges
 Universities with doctoral programs (without a medical school)
 Physicians Group Practice with 1-5 locations
 Separate health professional schools (other than medical schools)


Tier B:

 Baccalaureate Colleges
 Multi-campus associate and community college systems (2 yr.)
 Polytechnical Schools
 Medically related State and Local government departments and agencies (excluding state owned hospitals and hospital systems)
 Charitable or nonprofit organizations and private foundations (with up to 500 total staff)


Tier A:

 Single-campus associate and community college systems (2yr.)
 Public Libraries


Non tiered: Institutions that must go straight to sales rep for negotiation

 Corporate market

 Non tiered/non corporate:
 Medically related National government departments and agencies (excluding state owned hospitals and hospital systems)
 University Systems with Multiple medical schools and/or teaching hospitals (with more than 5 locations)
 Physicians Group Practice with more than 5 locations
 Charitable or nonprofit organizations and private foundations (with over 500 total staff)

Needless to say our prices are going up at our institution.....

Clarian starts iPod patient education

I stumbled across this article while in northern Indiana this past weekend. Patients use iPods to get information on surgery

Parkview Regional Cancer Center Library (maybe their consumer library?)gets a small nod in the article. But it revolves around the use of iPods for patient education in the bariatric surgery program.

My predecessor was very interested in health literacy, and was working in the very early stages on a project to provide this type of patient education service, (albeit with walkman's) for high risk DRG's like HBP and asthma, in the name of advancing health literacy.

I have not given this much thought, in fact I did not pick this project up at all, until reading the above article. iPod's, at first blush seem to offer significantly more options like audio AND video which may lead to more success. I have done little research on this, are there others working on similar patient education initiatives?

2006 IHSLA Meeting Survey Results

The planning committee for the IHSLA 2007 will be meeting very soon. Lorna Springston and her staff compiled the survey results below from our meeting in April. Please feel free to contacy myself crbishop@ecommunity.com or contact Patty Lunsford--with further suggestions, input and ideas.

PUBLIC HEALTH IS CONTAGIOUS -
SPREADING THE WORD
ANNUAL MEETING April 27-28, 2006
Muncie, Indiana
Please check the appropriate rating for each of the following aspects of the conference.
I Acquired
Please continue evaluation on back!

Agree SomewhatAgree Somewhat Disagree N/A
Knowledge & skills I can use 17 (85%) 2 (10%) 1
Program Content Was well organized
19 (95%) 1 (5%)

Was relevant to my needs 17 (85%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%)
Speaker was Knowledgeable
Kris Alpi, MLS, MPH 18 (90%) 2 (10%)
Peggy Richwine, MS, MLS 19 (9 5%) 1 (5%)
Terrie Fenner, EBSCO 16(80%) 2(10%) 2(10%)
Suzanne Braun-McGee, MLS 19 (95%) 1 (5%)
Presentation was Relevant/Useful
Evidence-Based Public Health:
Finding & Appraising Relevant 18 (90%) 2 (10%)
Resources
Structure of Indiana Public 17 (85%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%)

Link Resolvers 15 (75%) 3 (15%) 2 (10%)
Blogging Basics 17 (85%) 3 (15%)
Accommodations/Settings
Very Good Good Fair Poor N/A
Conference Room 15 (75%) 5 (25%)
Food Quality 13 (65%) 6 (30%) 1 (5%)
Guest Rooms/Amenities 10 (50%) 4(20%) 1 (5%) 5 (25%)
Accessibility 13 (65%) 6 (3 0%) 1 (5%)




Exhibitors were essential:
Agree: 14 (70%) Somewhat Agree: 2 (10%) Somewhat Disagree: 1 (5%)
Disagree: 0 (0%) No Response : 3 (15%)
Exhibitors were essential because:
• Face to face meeting; financial support.
• Sponsorship.
• So much to learn, absorb, & share with our hospitals/staffs/administrations & patrons.
• New products & resources; chance to talk face to face.
• I have very little power over which vendors we use at my library but I do like to know as much about them as possible.
• They make meetings possible.
Overall, I felt this meeting was:
Excellent: 13 (65%) Above Average: 4 (20%) Average: 0 (0%)
Below Average: 0 (0%) No Response: 3 (15%)
Suggestions for future topics:
• Measuring impact of services, developing outreach programs, effective teaching methods.
• Library management/budget/communications — especially with our patrons (physicians).
• 20-3 0 for individual to describe (announce) grants proposals, recent grant acquisitions, innovations in library management (i.e. what new things have we tried), job market/changes. Basically, time for open participation for librarians to share with each other (different from lunch, which is casual; something a little more formal giving merit to librarian’s contributions).
• Business resources from business librarians; grant writing.
• Virtual libraries & services.
• RSSR newsreaders; collaborative technologies-blogs, wikis; view of the library/health sciences library; a health professional in their 20’s who likes & uses technology.
• Consumer health track; assessment track; assessing various programs.
Other comments:
• Public health is not currently a focus of my organization, so not all was applicable. But overall, enjoyable and useful for networking.
• Very nice job!
• Start time too early. This group puts together the nicest bags—thanks!
• Put links to all presentations on website.
• This entire conference has been extraordinary inspiring, exciting and wonderful in every aspect. Thank you so much!
• Very good meeting! Thank you!
• Thanks again!
• Lovely meeting — great food. Enjoyed the program.
• Very enjoyable meeting; great hospitality & solid meeting content
• Very good meeting; program provided excellent content, and networking with colleagues is always a plus.

New IOM book: Preventing Medication Errors: Quality Chasm Series

CNN reports, Medication errors injure more than 1.5 million yearly

The book is available for purchase here Preventing Medication Errors: Quality Chasm Series as a pdf and or a forthcoming title.

Web site to consolidate drug trials registries

The Indianapolis Star today posted Web site to consolidate drug trials registries . The free site, www.searchclinicaltrials.org, will link to more than 50 trial registries and let anyone find information on any trial within a set distance of their home by typing in their ZIP code.

Off site access and Clinical Resources

It seems to me that a lot of vendors have caught on that off-site access is pretty important to us. Recent meetings with Ovid, sales calls from Elsevier and Ebsco have reinforced this . Of course this is response to our "Opinion" of "NotUpToDate" (as I like to call it -- judging by their indexing, updates, evidence grading, inability to customize, inability to give accurate statistics, and the inability to brand)

I recently received the following e-mail from Dynamed, I have not checked it out, but I will soon. I guess choosing a new product is not the hard part its selling it to my medical executive committee who "donated" 30% to our NotUpToDate agreement.

Are you currently using Up-to-Date or another point-of-care electronic resource? Have you found these resources to be cost-prohibitive? Are you interested in evaluating other options?

If so, you’ll be happy to know that EBSCO Publishing now provides DynaMed, the highest quality, evidence-based, point-of-care resource that is not only cost-effective, but includes unlimited remote access for no additional fee!

A year ago, EBSCO acquired DynaMed, and since that time has successfully implemented a new user interface for enhanced access to this increasingly popular resource. With clinically-organized summaries for nearly 2,000 topics, DynaMed is the only evidence-based point-of-care reference shown to answer most clinical questions during practice (Annals of Family Medicine, November/December 2005).

EBSCO invites you to view the following brief “flash” overview of DynaMed, and request more information – including a free trial.

http://www.epnet.com/flashViewer.php?marketID=2&topicID=192

If you have questions, or would like an EBSCO representative to contact you, please send an email to us at: information@epnet.com.


Kind regards,

Scott Bernier
Director of Communications
EBSCO Publishing
sbernier@epnet.com

REMINDER! MLA President speaking at IUPUI

Jean Shipman, current President of the Medical Library Association, will be on the IUPUI campus July 24. You are invited to her speech on the topic of the future of health sciences libraries at 11 am EDT in the IUPUI University Library Auditorium. For developing a long term survival strategy, this would be worth your time and effort to attend.

Google's unknown artist has huge following

The article "Google's unknown artist has huge following" was posted today on CNN.com, I know we all have a love hate relationship with google, but I do enjoy the art work on the otherwise plain search page. This article discusses how the artist got started and how much time he spends on the art.

IHSLA and Non profit status Update

I have been briefed by Scott Loman (IHSLA treasurer) that our Non-profit status has been delayed once again. The paperwork was recently submitted to an accountant and we thought that would be the end of it. However, nothing is easy with the IRS. Scott received a notice from the IRS that our non-profit status was being held up, for us to fill out even more paperwork and they only gave us 30 days to complete it. At this point Scott and I have agreed to put off attempting to continue this process and discuss at the meeting next year.
Possibly there is a member out there that has done this for another organization and would like to take it on? Or maybe we need to continue the discussion of the pros and cons of being a non-profit organization?

Showing the Money: Dollar values as Evidence of the Library's value

Showing the Money: Dollar values as Evidence of the Library's value

How do we determine and measure our value?

IHSLA member Julia M. Esparza and Donna M. Record Deaconess Health System published the following article (on page 22) Showing the Money: Dollar values as Evidence of the Library's value in the October 2005 issue of National Network, the official newsletter of the Hospital Library section of the Medical Library Association. It was a follow up to their MLA 2005 poster Showing the Money: Utilizing Dollar Values to Show a Library's Value and Increase the Budget!

The 2007 IHSLA planning committee is interested in having them come and present.

Another class that might work well with this theme is presented by Susan Barnes, Acting Assistant Director, Outreach Evaluation Resource Center and Maryanne Blake, Education & Evaluation Coordinator, NN/LM Northwest Region and Betsy Kelly, Evaluation Coordinator, Washington University School of Medicine and NN/LM MidContinental Region have a class Measuring your impact: using evaluation to demonstrate value This has been taught at MLA and Midwest and many other places. I think it would be a great class for IHSLA 2007.

IHSLA Marketing - Tools and Ideas

Every year at our IHSLA Meeting in April our members are encouraged to bring and display marketing materials for their respective libraries and services.

Did you know IHSLA members have access to 4 high quality table top presentation Display boards which may be borrowed for any need and for any length of time. IHSLA has supplied a Go Local display for the boards but they can be used for any presentation, let's get our money's worth. Any questions about these boards can be directed to Scott Loman at ssloman@sjhsnet.org

If you have marketing ideas, materials or projects please feel free to share with the readers of the blog or send them to me and I will post.

Stephanie Schulte (IPFW) has a monthly newsletter take a look at them here IPFW Health Sciences Newsletters

Scott Loman (St. Johns Anderson) states the following
"Hi Chris - just coincidentally I just rec'd my library's bookbags that I'm using to market my library. I'm attaching a copy of the artwork. They are just simple plastic bookbags that go like hotcakes - I just hang them from the Library's door knobs - any freebies are always welcomed and make a lasting impression - plus the bags put the Library out there - our associates use them for books, magazines, cds, lunch, rain hats, you name it - they are very versatile. 1000 bags for $400.00 - not bad. In the past I purchased them from the Library vendors, i.e. Brodart, LibraryStore, etc. - but these are cheaper and available from Bright Ideas in Broad Ripple."