As I gaze upon this blank white space, desperately trying to think of something meaningful to write in this, my first president’s message, my mind wanders back to the recent stunning news of Jay Daly’s death. I did not know Jay well, so I will leave the remembrances to those who did, but I do know that he will be incredibly missed and MAHSLIN’s condolences go out to his family, friends, and colleagues.
My mind wanders, yet again, and I start thinking about Jay’s legacy – his energy and enthusiasm, his creative and entrepreneurial spirit. This leads me to thoughts of MAHSLIN’s legacy. Not so much about where we’ve been (the archives and past newsletters can remind us of that), but where we are going. Our “future legacy”, so to speak.
Almost ten years into the 21st century, where are we going? What is our professional role and image? More importantly, what can we do? As we learned at this year’s annual meeting, there is much we can do, but we need to look at ourselves differently – be more creative (even entrepreneurial), use our resources (and that includes ourselves) to the fullest. We need to think outside the box, rebrand ourselves.
To that end, the MAHSLIN Board is here to help. We have creative and enthusiastic board members, full of energy and good ideas. It is an honor to be associated with such a dedicated group of people. But, ultimately, the Board is here for the membership and as we travel further into the 21st century, we need to do so together. So, if you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas, please feel free to contact us. The Board is here for you:
Officers:
President Terri Niland tniland@hallmarkhealth.org
Vice-President Elaine Alligood Elaine.alligood@va.gov
Past President Chris Fleuriel chris.fleuriel@gmail.com
Secretary Olga Lyczmanenko olyczman@caregroup.harvard.edu
Treasurer Pat McNary patricia.mcnary@mcphs.edu
Committee Chairs:
Archives Melinda Marchand mmarchand@emersonhosp.org
Bylaws (TBD)
Education Florence Mercer fmercer@ajh.org
Membership Brandy King brandy.king@childrens.harvard.edu
Newsletter Sally Gore sally.gore@umassmed.edu
Cara Helfner chelfner@partners.org
Nominating Rhoda Moskowitz rhoda.moskowitz@mwmc.com
Submitted by Terri Niland, MAHSLIN President
Fahey Library, Lawrence Memorial Hospital
MAHSLIN is the place to be this summer! Please extend a warm welcome to our newest members:
Submitted by Brandy King, Chair
MAHSLIN Membership Committee
MAHSLIN would like to thank this year’s Partnership Program participants for their generous support of our organization:
We would also like to thank the NN/LM New England Region for their generous support.
We very much appreciate your support!Submitted by Patty Boyle on behalf of Terri Niland and those who worked with her on the planning committee for the April 24th annual meeting
On April 14, 2009, the Dean of the University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Nursing (GSN), Dr. Paulette Seymour-Route, and Chancellor Michael Collins, MD, presented the librarians of the Lamar Soutter Library the 2008-2009 GSN Dean’s Award at the annual UMMS Educational Recognition Awards ceremony. The award was given in recognition of the librarians’ contributions in education and service to the faculty, staff and students.
Congratulations to the LSL librarians!
Submitted by Sally Gore
Lamar Soutter Library
University of Massachusetts Medical School
IQ: What do you get when you cross a Hollywood filmmaker with a pediatrician?
A: The Mediatrician!
Brandy King, Librarian at the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) is proud to announce the launch of “Ask the Mediatrician”, a site where parents can ask questions about media and health and receive advice from CMCH Director Dr. Michael Rich. Dr. Rich is a film producer turned pediatrician, and most importantly, a parent. Given his involvement with media in all three of those areas, his answers are research-based, balanced, realistic, and action-oriented. Do YOU have a question about media? Ask the Mediatrician!Submitted by Brandy King
Librarian, Center for Media and Child Health
Children's Hospital Boston
Jay Daly: An Appreciation Jay Daly, known to the medical library community as the godfather of QuickDoc, died on May 28th of post-surgical complications. He was 62.
Jay has worked in Knowledge Services, formerly Medical Library Services, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston since 1984 when he joined the staff of Beth Israel Hospital. His early adoption of information technology and high-level technical skills helped position the BIH medical library as a national leader among hospital libraries.
Jay conceived, wrote, implemented and maintained the medical library program QuickDOC, a front-end program which gave medical libraries an early and efficient way to both interface with DOCLINE and manage their document delivery statistical information. In 1993, Jay won the Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award for "distinguished professional contributions to the application of technology in the delivery of health care information.”
Jay’s service to the medical library community did not stop with QuickDOC. He served on the MLA Nominating Committee in 1997 and again in 2005. In NAHSL, Jay worked on the planning committees of two Massachusetts-hosted NAHSL meetings. He served the Massachusetts Health Sciences Library Network (MAHSLIN) in several capacities during the 1980’s and ‘90’s including the presidency. In 1998, Jay was among the first recipients of the MAHSLIN Hall of Fame award for both his contributions to MAHSLIN and his program which he beta tested in several Massachusetts medical libraries.
Delivering workshops on QuickDOC throughout the U.S. and Canada, Jay developed a loyal following within the North American medical library community. He was so patient and cheerful that the customer support he provided seemed more like brotherly chats.
“Jay had a one-two punch of technical skills and an easy going, no problem manner. He always treated me as a friend even though we never met,” remarked Richard Cacciato (VA Northern California Health Care System). Blanka Glowacki (Jewish General Hospital, Montreal) adds, “He had this unique ability to make you feel at ease in the most stressful situations.”
Everyone enjoyed a rich relationship with Jay whether they knew him for 25 years or 25 days. But not everyone knew the extent of Jay’s creativity. In his late teens and early twenties, Jay wrote rock ‘n’ roll songs and performed with friends on guitar. In his late twenties and early thirties, he published short stories. From his late thirties through early forties, he wrote and published a novel (Walls) and a book of literary criticism. Then he wrote QuickDOC which became his labor of love for the past two decades.
Tone Mendoza (University of Nebraska - Kearney) best sums up Jay’s contribution to our profession: “Medical librarians, and, indirectly, doctors, nurses, patients, and their families, have lost a dear and helpful colleague and friend in Jay. One never knows how far one's work and its effects will travel.”Submitted by Margo Coletti
Director, IS/Knowledge Services
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
A couple of exciting learning opportunities were made available for area health sciences librarians in May and June, both with the focus of trying to fill in some gaps in our knowledge and understanding of subjects within various scientific disciplines. Thanks to the sponsorship of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/New England Region, the Boston Library Consortium, the libraries of the five UMass campuses, the North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries, Inc., and the New England States Consortium Systems Organization, librarians throughout the region were able to learn about stem cells, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and geographical information systems.
A Professional Development Day for Area Medical Librarians was held at the University of Massachusetts Medical School on May 13th. The exciting day featured an overview of stem cell biology and its current applications, demonstrations of the International Stem Cell Registry hosted at UMMS, a lecture on the many ethical issues surrounding the use of stem cells in health research, a discussion of where and how librarians can take an active role in this emerging field, and a hands-on tour of the Massachusetts Stem Cell Bank facility. Everyone who attended this day-long event found it a tremendous experience.
Approximately 60 science librarians from the region (and New York!) flashed back to the days of summer camp and attended the first annual Science Boot Camp for Librarians held at UMass Dartmouth from June 24-26th. During this intensive 2 ½ day workshop, attendees received both general overviews and practical examples of three different areas of science rapidly advancing in today’s world. Experts in biochemistry and molecular diagnostics, bioinformatics, chemical engineering, and geographic data management shared their knowledge with an enthusiastic audience. Camp songs, merit badges, and great food were also part of the fun. What an opportunity for not only health sciences librarians, but science librarians from all disciplines!
Both of these programs were part of a larger, ongoing initiative to promote eScience across New England. Stay tuned for other exciting learning opportunities coming from this plan including classes, webinars, and a web-based portal of science resources for librarians!
Currently available resources from both events can be found at on the Lamar Soutter Library website.
Submitted by
Sally Gore
Lamar Soutter Library, UMass Medical School
Many of you are familiar with PubMed® and know that it is undergoing many changes. This class is of particular interest to those who want a review of recent changes, including medical librarians, researchers, medical editors, and anyone who searches for biomedical journal article citations. The class also includes an overview of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) and its importance as a tool to both searchers and indexers.
The NLM Gateway allows the user to search simultaneously in multiple NLM retrieval systems using a single search interface. These resources include PubMed, Toxline Subset, Bookshelf, Genetics Home Reference and others. NLM Gateway is the only search interface for the Meeting Abstracts.
ClinicalTrials.gov offers up-to-date information for locating federally and privately supported clinical trials for a wide range of diseases and conditions. Studies listed in the database are conducted in 50 states and in over 150 countries.
These classes are free and award MLA CE credits.
For more info see the NN/LM NER site.Submitted by Lauri Fennell
National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region
Here are some upcoming free events for NELINET members. More events are listed on their website.
MAHSLIN members can attend NELINET unlimited member courses for FREE.
User name and Password must all be in CAPS, MAHSLIN, MAHSLIN.
Submitted by Stephen Sanzo, NELINET and Jeanie Vander Pyl, Cape Cod Healthcare
North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries, Inc. (NAHSL) Annual Meeting
October 25-27, 2009
“What's Cooking? A Taste of the Future”
Samoset Resort, Rockport, Maine
Register and learn more about conference details and accommodations at the conference website.
Submitted by Susan Bloomfield, Southern Maine Medical Center
The MAHSLIN Network News co-editors, Sally Gore and Cara Helfner, welcome your suggestions and submisstions of news, updates and educational opportunities that you wish to share with the MAHSLIN community. Sally will be editing the Fall edition of the newsletter, so please contact her via email if you have anything you would like to contribute.
Happy Summer!!
