MAHSLIN NETWORK NEWS
volume 19, number 3, July 1999
A Quarterly Publication of the Massachusetts Health Sciences Library Network
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MAHSLIN BY CANDLELIGHT
Candlelight flickered as we entered the reception area. There was a soft, mellow glow to the room where we'd all agreed to meet. Shadowy voices could be heard from down the hall. It was almost like entering another world....
Something from the latest romance novel to hit the bookstores? How about the 1999 annual meeting held at the Sheraton Lexington Inn this past April! This year's conference committee, ably chaired by Anita Loscalzo, Vice-President/President-Elect, planned for just about every contingency and thought of almost every detail, except the power outage that occurred at 3:30am the morning of the meeting. A car accident on the road just outside the hotel had disrupted power to the surrounding area. But, librarians are a creative lot, and undaunted and with assurances that the problem was being worked on, the dedicated core of volunteers set up for incoming registration, directed attendees, albeit carefully, to the continental breakfast just down the darkened hall, and promptly at 9:00am, the meeting was called to order by Mahslin President, Florence Mercer. The particulars of the business meeting and subsequent program are described below, but be heartened to know that the gods took pity upon the gathered assembly, and with the official passing of the President's gavel, the power was restored at 9:25am. The remainder of the day proceeded according to plan - a very successful event. Congratulations to all for a job well done!
Business Meeting Highlights
Florence Mercer, President, brought the meeting to order and welcomed attendees, noting the almost romantic mood of the candlelight.
The April 29, 1998 annual meeting minutes were approved as submitted.
The Treasurer's report was approved as submitted.
The 1999-2000 slate of officers was presented for election by the membership:
Vice-President/President Elect - Mary Linn Bergstrom
Secretary - Kate Benning
Florence Mercer gave remarks as the outgoing president:
My year as president of Mahslin has brought the great reward of serving this organization with a stimulating group of professional librarians - I hope many more of you have the opportunity for this experience. Thank goodness I have another year to serve on the board as past-president. This job is not like the boat owner's experience, in which the happiest days are the day you buy the boat and the day you sell the boat. Well, not exactly like that.
This year's accomplishments are due to our great board of directors. In Education, Howard Silver and his committee have brought us two courses with another scheduled for June. In November, they held a Reference Manager and Procite Workshop. In early April, Mary Linn Bergstrom and Kate Kelly created a full-day program on Consumer Health Libraries, attended by librarians from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The last program of the year will be Creating Library Service Forms on the Web, on June 16. This year the committee put the finishing touches on the Mahslin Educational Support Program to help consortia produce continuing education programs. Guidelines are available on the Mahslin Website.
Speaking of the Mahslin Website, thanks go to Joe Harzbecker for keeping up with all the changes we sent him this year. All current Mahslin policies, practices, programs, and personnel may be found on the Mahslin website. There you will find our newsletter, edited by Terri Niland. Although you've heard this before, we really do mean it: we welcome suggestions for both the website and the newsletter. Today would be a good time to let us know what's on your mind.
Barbara Pasten has met (sometimes on the phone) with her ILL/Resources committee to review our ILL statistics and to plan for the future. We hope that QuickDOC will continue to be the great boon it has been for keeping these statistics.
Our newest board member, Kate Kelly, has taken on the challenge of organizing the Mahslin archives. She has gone through many boxes of Mahslin material but has found no pictures. If you can supply pictures of Mahslin people or events of any time period, please call Kate.
The Membership Committee, chaired by MaryBeth Edwards and Cathy Guarcello, always has a tough job reminding us that it really is time to pay our dues. They also take credit for the annual membership directory which helps us to keep in touch with our colleagues. MaryBeth reminded me this morning that we can all stay in touch better by subscribing to our List Serve, Mahslin-L. If you do not subscribe already, please do. MaryBeth and Cathy have completed their term of office and it will be a hard act to follow.
The Technology Committee under the leadership of Len Levin is addressing four major areas: PubMed, Docline/Serhold changes, the librarian's role in intranets, and our participation in the Massachusetts Regional Library System. During the coming months, you will see reports in our newsletter on each of these topics. Please take a minute to answer the Intranet questionnaire you picked up at registration. Your answers will focus the committee's work in this area.
Anne Lima and Sue Dhanjal as secretary and treasurer respectively, have kept us organized and on track. Pat Vigorito has patiently waited for your bylaw change requests, in vain this year. Sydney Fingold, as past president, has helped us greatly with her experience and wisdom. Mary Ann Finnegan and her committee have come up with a wonderful slate of officers for next year. And last, but not least, Anita Loscalzo and her annual meeting program committee have balanced foresight with practicality in the intriguing program we will enjoy today.
Thanks to all you wonderful board members - would you please stand for a round of applause. I'd like to especially thank those members who will be leaving the board this year: Sydney Ann Fingold, Anne Lima, MaryBeth Edwards, Catherine Guarcello, and Howard Silver. And, thank you all for a truly rewarding year as president.
Now, let's welcome our new president, Anita Loscalzo. Here's your gavel, have a great year.
Sydney Fingold presented this year's Mahslin Hall of Fame award to Jacqueline Bastille:
Mahslin, our association of professionals, has been dedicated to providing and facilitating access to health information resources and services for over twenty years. In establishing its "Hall of Fame" last year, Mahslin has sought to recognize the performance and leadership of members and supporters of the health sciences library community.
This year we have unanimously chosen one outstanding candidate, JACQUELINE BASTILLE, whose library,
under her direction, has become widely recognized as one of the best hospital libraries in the country. In fact, Jackie has just been chosen to receive the 1999 Medical Library Association Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship.
Jackie came to the Treadwell Library at Massachusetts General Hospital twenty-five years ago and transformed a small, poorly lit reading room with bound journal volumes stacked on the floor, into a modern 1400 square foot library with computers on every floor. She had imagination, vision, and a willingness to take risks. She jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of new technologies and in the early 1980's, experimented with an online catalog, instituted and automated serials check-in system and applied for and received an IAIMS grant.
Throughout Jackie's long career she has been actively engaged in professional library activities. Her MLA interests started as early as 1963 when she served as the Chair of the Philadelphia Regional Chapter. She spent a good part of her career engaged in library research, both practical and then formal when she became Chair of the MLA Research Section. Jackie also served on the National Program Committee and the MLA Board of Directors for three years. In 1991, she mad a major commitment and became President of the Medical Library Association. In her role as president, she made it her mission to address the issues of compensation and professional authority for librarians. Then, in 1996, MLA welcomed Jackie as a Fellow and recognized "her outstanding and sustained contribution to the field and the purposes of the Medical Library Association."
Jackie has shared her extensive knowledge while teaching MLA courses and Medical Librarianship at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science. She has always been willing to share this knowledge and experience with her colleagues, too, and Mahslin was no exception. Jackie has remained active and visible within our organization, lending support and counsel to many of our initiatives. As a true mentor, she always knew how to challenge us in a way that would allow us to reach the right decision. As a role model, there could be none better.
Jackie, as you retire and go off to your new home in Nashua, and to the family who means so much to you, Mahslin is delighted to present you with this certificate in honor of a most distinguished career.
Press Release Submitted to the Boston Globe
Program Highlights
John Stey, Director, NN/LM New England Region, brought greetings and news from the regional office in Connecticut.
A program called "Health Information and the Public" was presented. Dr. Marcia Angell, Executive Director, New England Journal of Medicine, discussed, "How Scientists May Better Communicate Health & Scientific Information to the Public, " while Susan Flannery, Director, Cambridge Public Library gave the public librarian's perspective with "Consumer Health Information: Policies & Issues for Public Libraries." Dana Natkevicius, Health Web Guide Producer, Lycos, then guided us through the "Process of Information Selection for the Lycos health Web Guide." Lastly, Michael Hering, Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General, Consumer Protection & Antitrust Division, enlightened the group regarding "Consumer Protection - Web Issues." Perhaps Elaine Alligood, forum moderator said it best when she simply said that everything old is new again. Remember the CHIN's of the 1970's?
Following a delicious buffet lunch (who can pass up those desserts), the afternoon was filled with more information and thought-provoking ideas.
The second program of the day featured a discussion of "System Mergers and their Effects on Libraries & Library Service," moderated by Alison Clapp. Sandra Clevesy, Director, Library & Information Services, Metrowest Medical Center, provided an historical view of what happened at her hospital, pre- and post-merger. Margo Coletti, Director, Agoos Medical Library, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discussed the merging of libraries as a natural part of merging hospitals. Joan Yanicke, Manager, Dumphy Memorial Library, St. Vincent Hospital, talked about system mergers and how attitude can make a difference.
Rounding out the day was a forum on "Electronic Journals & Copyright," moderated by Lynne Silvers. Hannah Stevens, Boston Library Consortium, described the nitty-gritty of "Negotiating Electronic Journals Contracts." This was followed by a discussion of the "Economics & Implementation of Electronic Journals," with Ivy Anderson, Coordinator for Digital Acquisitions, Harvard University Library.
Congratulations to Anita and all who helped to put together and enjoyable and informative day.
Correction
Information re: the Archives Committee was inadvertently omitted from the new Mahslin directory cover. Would you please add Kate Kelly's name to your copy. Kate, Committee Chair, is located at the Treadwell Library, Massachusetts General Hospital.
Committee News
From the Resource Sharing Chair -
Several of us have been pondering the reduction of loans and requests through Interlibrary Loan. For the third year there have been fewer that the previous year. The figures are not dramatic, but are worth considering.
It has been suggested that some of you may not be reporting your yearly statistics to your consortium. You may have neglected to send this year's figures because we changed some of the categories. We believe we made it simpler, however, we PROMISE no changes in 2000. If you have QuickDOC, it does the work for you - printing out loans, requests, types, successes, failures, etc. Ten minutes at most and you're done.
Some of you may not see the rationale for statistics, but remember - if you (or Mahslin) are going for a grant, statistical information must be included.
Some of us have asked for new equipment, i.e., faxes, and we have used the ILL statistical base for justification. Those of us who belong to the MA Board of Library Commissioner's regional system will be asked to provide statistics in order to qualify for grants and support our mission.
Please reply to me privately at bpp@world.std.com if you did not report and your reasons will be given consideration.
From the Technology Committee -
Hi, I'm MAUNBP, who are you? (Or, more on the new Docline) -
As many of you already know, NLM plans to migrate Docline over to a client-server based system prior to the end of this year. This migration is tentatively planned to occur sometime in the late fall or early winter, 1999. However, it appears that the old system might run for a while in conjunction with the new following this date, in order to assure a smooth transition for all. Also, NLM now states that the old Docline will work after January 1, 2000. But, FTS2000 telephone connections to MEDLARS will end on September 30th and only Docline will be available via modem (with a new telephone number) as of October 1st.
What definite details do we know at this time? First of all, we will all be using new LIBID's. These will use a combination of geographic state and country MARC codes and our current SERHOLD code. My current LIBID/SERHOLD combination at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston will change from 02120A/NBP to MAUNBP (MA for Massachusetts, U for United States, and NBP to identify my institution). All Docline users will a) need to be connected to the Internet using a 28.8 speed or higher modem or a direct connection, b) be running either Netscape 4.5 or Internet Explorer 5.0, allowing JAVA script and accepting cookies (sounds like time for a coffee break), and c) will require a preferable screen resolution of 800 X 600. Also, the new Docline will allow individual libraries to maintain their own holdings online for free and will also provide users with a greater ability to search other holdings across the system (but UCMP will still be providing this updating function as they currently do, for those interested, at least for the next year or so). Lastly, Jay Daly is hard at work creating the new QuickDOC windows system that will work with both the new and old Docline, and is scheduled to begin this summer.
There will be much more information, updates and greater details forthcoming as we get closer to the fall, both in Network News as well as on Mahslin-L. The folks at out regional NN/LM in Connecticut will certainly be sending updates over NEHSL-L as they become available as well. It is the aim of the Mahslin Technology Committee that EVERYONE WHO USES OR WISHED TO USE DOCLINE IN MASSACHUSETTS AFTER THE TRANSITION IS ABLE TO DO SO. If you have any questions or concerns about your ability to connect to Docline following the migration, please contact me directly at 617/754-5155 or LLEVIN@nebh.org.
Have a great summer!
Len Levin, Technology Chair
From the Membership Committee -
MaryBeth Edwards and Cathy Guarcello report the following new members have been added to the Mahslin roster:
Elaine Alligood, Mgmt. Decision Center & Research Center; Wanda Anderson, Boston College; Armine Bagdarsarian, Regis College; Donna Beales, Lowell General Hospital; Marianne Burke, Harvard Medical School; Mou Chakrabory Mass. College of Pharmacy & Allied Health Sciences; Marilyn Cocorochio, DuPont Pharmaceuticals; Suzy Conway, Harvard Medical School; Kelly Cronin, UMASS Medical Center; Marian de la Cour, Jordan Hospital; Karen Dorval, Wing Memorial Hospital; Peter Droese, Simmons GSLIS; Marcella Hain, New England Research Institutes; Helen C. Jones, UMASS Lowell; Rosanna Labree, Library and Information Services; Teresa Leary Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape & Islands; Parker Livermore, Ebsco Information Services; Helen Makosky Baystate Medical Center Elaine R. Martin, UMASS Medical Center; Annanomi Sams Texas Heart Institute; Judy Spahr, Saints Memorial Medical Center; Paula Speer, Abiomed, Inc.; Doris Ann Sweet, Harvard Medical School; Jeanie Vander Pyl, Cape Cod Hospital; Anna Welland, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Betty Cohen.
Administrative Reporting Structure -
Chris Bell, Newton-Wellesley Hospital Library began an informal survey at the annual meeting re: how and to whom librarians report in their institutions. After further investigation via e-mail, Chris reports the following results:
The Library reports w/other departments within a division related to:
Information Services 4
Physician Support or Activities 5
Clinical/Patient Care Services 2
Support/Administrative Services 10
Medical Records (HIM) 0
The Librarian reports directly to:
Senior Management/Vice-President/Physician Chair-Chief 20
A Manager who then reports to Senior Management 4
The Library is an independent department w/an independent budget:
Yes 21 No 0
The Librarian is considered to be a member of the Hospital's Management Team, and therefore, reports directly to Senior Management:
Yes 15 No 8
Comments: One library reports on the problems that arise when the librarian is not a part of the Hospital's management team. One reports a Matrix Management reporting structure.
Members in Print -
Check out the April 14, 1999 issue of JAMA for a letter to the editor from Elizabeth Killoran, Milford-Whitinsville Regional Hospital called, " Electronic Information Retrieval by Physicians and Medical Librarians." (Vol. 281, No. 14, p. 1272).
Announcements -
Mary Ann Adams of the Harrington Memorial Hospital Library writes:
Just to let those interested know - I have accepted a position outside of the Library realm. I will be at Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital in Worcester beginning July 19th. I have enjoyed my association with CMCHRL and Mahslin over the years, but this opportunity was a hard one to refuse. Please note that your ILL requests should, perhaps, be routed around my library for a bit. Harrington Hospital is recruiting to find my replacement, but they are reducing the position to a Library Assistant. If you know of anyone interested, please feel free to e-mail me. Again, thanks!
Publication available:
The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium, Inc. Affiliated Health Information Networks of New England announces the availability of its 1999 annual report, "Leading the Way to Health Information Exchange in the Electronic World." It covers such areas as regional status of connectivity, evaluating community connectivity, beneficial uses of identifiable health data, patient-centered E-mail guidelines, health information privacy issues, etc. The 58-page book can be purchased for $35. For further information, contact Cara Helfner, Research Library Manager and Webmaster, Massachusetts Health Data Consortium, Inc. at 781/890-6040.
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