Please forward any membership or ULS directory changes to either Cathy Guarcello or Marybeth Edwards, Membership co-chairs at:
Stohlman Library
St. Elizabeth's Medical Center
736 Cambridge St.
Boston, MA 02135
Tel: (617) 789-2177; Fax: (617) 789-5081; Email: cguarcel@world.std.com or mbedward@world.std.com
The Executive Board will be meeting at Newton-Wellesley Hospital on the following dates [meetings are open to all MAHSLIN members]: September 9, 1997 (9 a.m.) Early December date TBA
The minutes of each meeting are posted to MAHSLIN-L approximately a month after the meeting. If you are not a subscriber to MAHSLIN-L, contact Anne Lima for a copy [tel: 617-522-8110 x225; fax: 617-524-9779].
UNION LIST VIII
The printed Union List completed in the spring of 1996 is still available for purchase [MAHSLIN members, $23.00; non-MAHSLIN or members' 2nd copy, $43.00. Shipping & handling included]. Your order must be prepaid. Make check payable to "MAHSLIN" and send to:
Ann Tomes Treasurer, MAHSLIN Health Sciences Library Beverly Hospital 85 Herrick St. Beverly, MA 01915
Any questions should be addressed to Barbara Pastan, Faulkner Hospital [Tel: 617-983-7443; Fax: 617-983-7555; email: bpp@world.std.com]
NEWS FROM MEMBERS NEW CONSORTIUM CHAIRS
BBLC: Alison Clapp, Children's Hospital, Boston & Sandra Clevesy, Columbia MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham Central Mass.: Joan Yanicke, St. Vincent Hospital, Worcester CIR: Nancy Callander, Emerson Hospital, Concord NECHI: Chris Young, Tewksbury Hospital, Tewksbury SEMCO: Kathy McCarthy, South Shore Hospital, South Weymouth WHMIC: Mary Caraker, Holyoke Hospital, HolyokeWHMIC VOLUME INDICATORS, submitted by Donna Kurkul The chart below [Appendix A] lists volume indicators for nine insittutions of thirteen paticipating hospital members of the Western Massachusetts Health Information Consortium. WHMIC library hospital members emphasize that the categories of activity they periodically track in no way reflect the content of positions at their respective institutions nor a measure of their professional work. These categories represent only a fraction of the variety of resources, services and systems provided by medical and health sciences libraries of various sizes and types (large, medium, or small hospitals, or academic/teaching, metropolitan, community or outreach facilities), with varying levels of staffing expertise relative to customer needs in the communities served. Valid benchmarking for performance levels and process improvements can only succeed if data contributors agree on what to benchmark, and then, on criteria and standardization for tracking their data prior to making it publicly available. No such criteria nor standards for data tracking are indicated in WHMIC data. At best, the volume indicators are quantitative, not qualitative. Any library can track these categories, as well as others. WHMIC members recommend that MAHSLIN seek to establish and to define baseline criteria and standards for future data collection and reporting for benchmarking purposes. Such critera and standards would clarify discrepancies by taking into account factors like time and complexity of the activities comprising library practice and business. Donna Kurkul, Medical Librarian at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, has been gathering volume indicators for the past five years. She uses the attached chart [Appendix B] for periodically charting data collection. This chart is combined with a record documenting work processes for the week that is charted. The combination of the two serve to indicate both quantity and quality of library processes and business activities for the period reported on. She says it is extremely important that activity reports detail steps in a process in order to document time involved. Each step can then be flow-charted to illustrate tasks comprising library operations. Such analysis often leads to work process improvements.
REGIONAL ILL & RAC MEETINGS
Edward Donnald, Network Coordinator for the New England Regional Library, has placed the minutes from the April 10, 1997 RAC meeting at [http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/ner/rac/9704rac.html] and the minutes from the Regional ILL meeting and publishers forum on April 11, 1997 at [http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/ner/illmeeting.html]. A video tape of the publishers forum is available for loan from the NER office [tel: 860/679/4500].
JOURNAL, MEDIA, & INTERNET NOTES
Alternative Health News Online, the latest health news and resources on alternative health, is located at [http://www.altmedicine.com].
"Alphabet Soup: From CD-DA to DVD-RAM", by Paul Nicholls, is a quick guide to what a number of new media acronyms mean [Computers in Libraries 1997;17(6):67].
If cookies worry you, or you would like to learn more about them for creating your own website, Aaron Weiss has written "Baking Your Own Cookies" in the July, 1997 issue of Internet World [p. 85-6,88].
Two core lists have recently been published: "A Library for Internists IX" [Annals of Internal Medicine 1997;126:836-46] and "Selected List of Books and Journals for the Small Medical Library" [Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 1997;85(2):111-35].
The importance of the role of medical librarians in teaching literature searching and information management skills is highlighted in Donald R. Bordley's article, "Evidence-based Medicine: a Powerful Educational Tool for Clerkship Education" [American Journal of Medicine 1997;102(5):427-32].
Billed as the "Gateway Site to Federal Health Resources", Healthfinder can be found at [http://www.healthfinder.gov].
If you have ever wondered how the Internet came into existence, consult "A Brief History of the Internet", by Barry M. Leiner et al. at [ http://www.isoc.org/internet-history/].
An excellent guide to Internet Training Manuals available on the web by Cecilia Durkin appeared in the April issue of National Network [1997;21(4): 8,11].
"Internet 2: An Overview of the Next Generation of the Internet", by Laverna Saunders-McMaster, is a clear explanation of the next step in information technology [Computers in Libraries 1997;17(3):57-9].
If you are involved in the development of your organization's Intranet, consult Michael Nanfito's article, "Build Intelligence into your Intranet" [Information Outlook 1997:1(5):16-20].
The usefulness and image of librarians are topics discussed in two articles: "What's in a Name?" [Singer R. American Libraries 1997;28(4):31] and "Why Librarians Should Rule the Net" [Schneiderman RA. Information Outlook 1997;1(4):34-5].
Molecular biology databases are highlighted in two articles by David M. Sander in Biotechniques [1996;21(3):438-9 and 1997;22(1):93-4].
A directory of hospices and other useful information about hospices is provided by the National Hospice Organization at [http://www.nho.org].
Researchers and librarians will find the site, National Library Catalogues Worldwide [http://www.uq.edu.au/~mljeast/] a useful starting point for finding material abroad.
The National Library of Medicine has a new toll-free telephone number: 1-888-FINDNLM [1-888-346-3656].
Medical periodicals' prices rose 12.4%, as reported in the "U.S. Periodical Price Index for 1997" [Alexander AW. American Libraries 1997;28(5):71-81].
"The Physician and the Internet" [Wang KK. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 1997;72:66-71] has a useful list of general medical sites and companies that provide Internet access.
For vegetarian information and a link to vegetarian recipes, see the Veggies Unite! site at http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/vegweb/
ADDRESS CHANGES Terri Niland [Lawrence Memorial Hospital] has a new direct dial telephone number: 617/306-6606 [no ext. #] Ann Tomes [Beverly Hospital] has a new e-mail address: atomes@nhs.healthlink.org
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY CORRECTION
Please note in your directories the correct spelling of Sydney Fingold's first name [y rather than i].
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING REGIONAL MEETINGS
"Institute on Valuing Corporate Libraries"; "Evaluating Resources on the
Internet"; "Search Engines on the Internet"
Bay Path College, Longmeadow, MA
July 11, 1997
Contact: Continuing Education, Bay Path College
Tel: (413)567-0621
DCI Internet Expo
Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA
August 12-14, 1997
Tel: (800)DCI-EXPO; Web Site: wwwDCIexpo.com/internet
40th Annual NAHSL Conference [North Atlantic Health Science Libraries]
Radisson Hotel, Burlington, VT
September 27-30, 1997
New England Library Association Annual Conference
Sturbridge, MA
October 5-7, 1997
ACRL/NEC Annual Fall Conference
"Wired and Wary: Legal Issues for Librarians in the Digital World"
Boston University, Boston, MA
November 7, 1997
Contact: Doris Ann Sweet
Tel: (617)353-3916; email: sweetda@bu.edu
Medical Library Association
Annual Conference [Centennial]
Philadelphia, PA
May 23-27, 1998
Special Library Association
Annual Conference
Indianapolis, IN
June 6-11, 1998
American Library Association
Annual Conference
Washington, DC
June 25-July 2, 1998
NAHSL [North Atlantic Health Science Libraries]
Annual Conference
Boston Park Plaza, Boston, MA
September 28-30, 1998
EDITORS' NOTE: The editors encourage your input of news and comment to future issues of MAHSLIN Network News. If you would like these considered for publication, please contact: Anita B. Loscalzo Tel: (508) 785-1407 Fax: (508) 785-1429, aloscalzo@bu.edu or Joseph Harzbecker Tel: (617) 638-4205 Fax: (617) 638-4233, harzbeck@bu.edu.
Deadlines for submissions are September 20 for the October 1997 issue, December 20 for the January 1998 issue, and March 20 for the April 1998 issue.