Anita B. Loscalzo, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, BU School of Medicine

Email: aloscalz@bu.edu ; tel: 508-785-1407 ; fax: 508-785-1429

Mary Linn Bergstrom, University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care, Library Services

Email: bergstrom@ummhc.org ; tel: 508-793-6549 ; fax: 508-793-6527

Florence Mercer, Rogers Medical Library, Anna Jaques Hospital

Email: fmercer@ajh.org ; tel: 978-463-1000 ; fax: 978-463-1286

Kate Benning, Carr Health Sciences Library, Cambridge Health Alliance

Email: kbenning@challiance.org ; tel: 617-666-4400 ; fax: 617-625-0628

Sue Dhanjal, North Shore Medical Center

Email: sue@nsmc.partners.org ; tel: 978-741-1215 ; fax: 978-744-9110

Kate Kelly, Treadwell Library, Massachusetts General Hospital

Email: kkelly3@partners.org ; tel: 617-726-8600 ; fax: 617-716-6784

Patricia M. Vigorito, Medical Library, Morton Hospital & Medical Center

Email: pvigorito@mortonhospital.org ; tel: 508-828-7407 ; fax: 508-824-6941

Kelly Cronin, Lamar Soutter Library, Umass Medical School

Email: Kelly.Cronin@umassmed.edu ; tel: 508-856-2458 ; Fax: 508-856-5899

Peg Spinner, Lamar Soutter Library, Umass Medical School

Email: peg.spinner@umassmed.edu ; tel: 508-856-1267 ; fax: 508-856-5899

Pat Davis, Medical Library, Falmouth Hospital

Email: falmedli@capecod..net ; tel: 508-457-3797 ; fax: 508-457-3675

Mary Ann Finnegan, Medical Library, Brockton Hospital

Email: emmidy@erols.com ; tel: 508-941-7207 ; fax: 508-941-6412

Joseph Harzbecker, Alumni Medical Library, BU Medical Center

Email: harzbeck@bu.edu ; tel: 617-638-4205 ; fax: 617-638-4233

Terri Niland, Fahey Library, Lawrence Memorial Hospital

Email: tniland@shore.net ; tel: 781-306-6606 ; fax: 781-306-6655

Barbara Pastan, Ingersoll Bowditch Library, Faulkner Hospital

Email: bpp@world.std.com ; tel: 617-983-7443 ; fax: 617-983-7555

Len Levin, Paul E. Woodard Health Sciences Library, New England Baptist Hospital

Email: llevin@nebh.org ; tel: 617-754-5155 ; fax: 617-754-6414

New Members -

Robert Vander Hart, Reference Librarian, The Lamar Soutter Library, Umass Medical School, 55Lake Avenue N., Worcester, MA 01655

Email: robert.vanderhart@umassmed.edu ; tel: 508-856-3290 ; fax: 508-856-5899

Mary Ann Slocomb, Access Services Librarian, The Lamar Soutter Library, Umass Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue N., Worcester, MA 01655

Email: MaryAnn.Slocomb@umassmed.edu ; tel: 508-856-2099 ; fax: 508-856-5899

Andrew Calo, Director, Helen Stubblefield Law Library, Laboure College, 2120 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, MA 02124

Email: laboure2@labourecollege.org ; tel: 617-296-8300 x4013 ; fax: 617-296-7947

Breck T. Bunce, Account Executive, Blackwell's Information Services, 22 Cortlandt Street, New York, NY 10007

Email: breck.bunce@blackwells.com ; tel: 800-221-3306 ; fax: 212-233-2902

Mel Gram, Librarian, Health Sciences Library, Lawrence General Hospital, 1 General Street, P.O. Box 189, Lawrence, MA 01842-0389

tel: 978-683-4000 x2221

Susan Wilson, Resource Specialist, Massachusetts Prevention Center, 95 Berkley Street, Suite 201, Boston, MA 02116

Email: swilson@tmfnet.org ; tel: 617-423-4337

Judith Pariseau, Harrington Medical Library, Harrington Memorial Hospital, 100 South Street, Southbridge, MA 01550

Email: lechat30@hotmail.com ; tel: 508-765-9771

Steve Maloney, Ingersoll Bowditch Library, Faulkner Hospital, 1153 Centre Street, Boston, MA 02130

Karen Dorval - email address change - Karen.dorval@winghealth.org

Christine W. Fleuriel - email correction - christine_fleuriel@dfci.harvard.edu

Nancy Sezak - email address change - 2library@tiac.net (to change again in October)

Betty Cohen, 6 Morseland Avenue, Newton Centre, MA 02459

Email: bettycohen2@yahoo.com ; tel: 617-641-9954

From the Technology Committee -

Greetings from the Mahslin Technology Committee:

By now, many of you have probably had the opportunity to look at and work a bit with the "new" PubMed. Our committee's next task is to solicit feedback on the new screens and options (positive and negative) that we can forward to the NN/LM in Connecticut. Members of our committee have already made some comments and we would like to see what others have to say as well. I will summarize the responses to the list at the time I compile them and send them along to NN/LM. Thanks!

Len Levin, Chair, Mahslin Technology Committee NEBHLIB@hotmail.com

Also -

Most of you have, by now, received invoices for UCMP (participation fee plus other services) for the next calendar year. As a result, you may be thinking "what should I do about UCMP next year, based on what I know about SERHOLD access with the new Docline?" The Mahslin Technology and Resource Committees are working to bring you the most up to date information to assist you in making an informed decision.

As a quick refresher, this is what UCMP had done for us (and most notably, as well) in the past. Our annual participation fee to UCMP has entitled us to a) have our journal holdings posted on the UCMP database and b) have them (via the Medical Library Center of New York) act as our SERHOLD coordinators by updating our records with NLM on a periodic basis. Also, by paying for the fiche or UCMP Online, we have had the ability to search the database for holdings information across Region 8 (New England) and Region 1 (NY, NJ, PA, and DE). And, for those with the online service, we have been able to update our own holdings online on an as needed basis.

But, now, with the new Docline coming up in early 2000, we hear that we will have the ability to a) search all of SERHOLD for holdings information (not just our local regions) and b) be able to update our own holdings directly to SERHOLD. So, then, the question follows, "Why should I pay good money to UCMP next year when I can get most of the same functionality and service through NLM for free?"

First of all, UCMP still has a contract for at least one more year to act as our SERHOLD coordinators. So, we can all continue to make our updates the way we have in the past and UCMP will continue, at least for the year 2000, to update your holdings into SERHOLD. However, this "batch update" may not happen until later in the year, until NLM has everything running smoothly on their end.

Secondly, in terms of the viewing of holdings, UCMP offers a higher level of holding specificity than SERHOLD. For example, is a library holds a particular title for a certain year but does not hold all the issues for that volume, they can report this "issue specific" information to UCMP. In SERHOLD, libraries must either report that they hold a particular volume or do not - it's all or nothing. But, when UCMP uploads to SERHOLD even today, the specificity is lost and the records are changed to the SERHOLD format. So, unless you use UCMP's searching capabilities, you will notice no difference.

Then, if you belong to BHSL, one of the current requirements of membership is that libraries must participate in UCMP. BHSL leadership, from my understanding, is looking at this issue right now but as of press time, there has been no change to this requirement.

However, the underlying fact is that with the new Docline package, we should be able to do the following: a) search holdings for a title throughout SERHOLD with the capability to limit to limit to a specific state or consortia/library group., and b) have password driven access and maintenance rights to our own records in SERHOLD. And, we will have access to all of this at no cost. But, notice that I said "should " have - we have "heard" that all of this will happen, but have "seen" very little to date.

What will happen if you choose not to re-join UCMP for the next year? First of all, your holdings will be deleted from UCMP at some point, probably in January. BUT, your current holdings in SERHOLD per the last update WILL REMAIN INTACT. Then, come February (or the actual NLM rollout date), you will be able to access your holdings and update them at will. And will SERHOLD provide the same level of LIBID and contact information that UCMP fiche and online currently do? Yes, that's the understanding. The new system is being designed so that the user, with the right password level designation (which we will determine ourselves) will be able to move seamlessly through SERHOLD, DOCUSER, PubMed, and Docline. Ed Donald, our regional NN/LM Network Coordinator, is attempting to mount some sample screens of the new Docline package on the NN/LM web site and will post a note on the NEHSL-L when this is available.

And, a quick word of caution. If you do pay your participation fee in UCMP for the next year and still wish to experiment with maintaining your own holding on SERHOLD when it is up, you will need to report this information to UCMP as well. This will guarantee that any changes you have made in SERHOLD do not get superceded by older UCMP information that will get sent to NLM when UCMP sends through its batch update.

The Mahslin Technology and Resource Sharing Committees would like to recommend that all Mahslin users retain their membership/participation in UCMP for at least the next year. Even though the new SERHOLD looks good "on paper", it's still an unknown and untried entity and we feel that we will all be better served by retaining our holdings in UCMP within Massachusetts until the new NLM package is running smoothly. After the start of the new year, when we're closer to an actual and certain rollout date for the new Docline and SERHOLD, the Mahslin Education Committee, in conjunction with the Technology and Resource Sharing Committees, will offer user training sessions on the new package. By this time next year, we should a) be used to the new Docline/SERHOLD system and have a better feel for what it will really do, and b) we will know more about UCMP and their contract, pricing, and offerings for the following year.

If you have any further question, please call Len Levin at (617) 754-5155 or send an e-mail to LLEVIN@nebh.org.

Kate Kelly reports that she is dwindling down the number of lost or missing items from the Mahslin archives, but that she is still in need of the following materials. If anyone in Mahslin has copies of any of these items that they would like to share with the organization, please contact Kate at the Treadwell Library, Massachusetts General Hospital. Thanks.

1991 (missing) ; 1992 (incomplete) ; 1996 (resource sharing reports not included)

Very few fliers or records of CE courses

1983 (nothing from January to May) ; June 1995 - December 1996 (minutes are by email and there is incomplete documentation)

1981 ; 1984 ; 1985 ; 1987 ; 1998

Vol. 1, issues 2,3,4 1978/1979 (never published?)

Vol. 2, Fall, Winter 1981/1982

Vol. 3, Summer, Fall, Winter 1982 (never published?0

Vol. 10, issue 4 1990

Vol. 11, all issues 1991

Vol. 16, issue 1 1996

19884-1993, 1996. Should be in meeting packets?

Missing the 5^th and 8^th editions

You can keep up and stay in tough with what's going on in Mahslin two ways:

Check the Mahslin web page every once in awhile http://nnlmner.uchc.edu/mahslin

and --

If you haven't done it already, sign up for the Mahslin-L listserv.

It's never too early to start thinking about the annual meeting. The Program Committee is working hard to present a conference worthy of the new millennium and so far it looks like they are succeeding. This year's meeting will be, in the words of Mary Linn Bergstrom, delightfully situated for a spring event, at the Tower Hill Botanic Gardens in Boylston, MA. The theme this year is The Common Wealth-Shared Resources and Services. So, mark your calendars now for Thursday, April 27, 2000. See you there!!!

Judy Spahr of Saints Memorial Medical Center in Lowell writes of her friend and colleague:

Some of you may have known and remember Marcia Allen, who was the health sciences librarian at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH, for about 20 years until her retirement two years ago. Marcia passed away last month after a brief illness. She was with her daughter in Texas at the time. Marcia and I shared 20 years of health sciences librarianship in Manchester. We shared rooms at NAHSL for nearly all those years and we shared many laughs together. She'll be missed.