|
Sue Skoglund, Editor
Valerie Reid, Webmaster
Table of Contents
Exploring
Michigan's New Electronic Library Resource, Part I
Profile on Members: Solo Librarians
Tinker,
Tailor, Soldier, Sailor...Librarian, Informationist?
Highlights from
Recent NLM Technical Bulletins
MHSLA Conference Highlights
The True Meaning of Teamwork
November MDMLG Meeting
Announcements
Upcoming Dates
 MeL,
http://www.mel.org/index.html, also known as the
Michigan
eLibrary, is a statewide library resource of selected Internet sites and
information databases through which one can access books, periodicals, and
newspapers – many in full text. Among
other resources are: a nonfiction
electronic book collection which includes an online dictionary with audio
pronunciation, a collection of practice tests designed to help Michiganians
achieve their educational and career goals, and a genealogy database.
The
Michigan
eLibrary has an ambitious objective – to be a resource for all types of
libraries in the state, and for all members of the general public.
In spite of its extensive and varied resources and its ambitious goal,
however, MeL is not yet well known, and is certainly underutilized.
The
Michigan
eLibrary’s website is linked to two other
Michigan
websites: HAL, the Michigan Department of
History, Arts and Libraries, which contains state-specific events and
announcements and links to other Michigan-related websites and Michigan.gov,
which has information on
Michigan
government and businesses.
At www.mel.org,
an individual can go to the websites above in search of Michigan-specific
information, to the Best of the Internet
(librarian-selected web sites), or to the electronic books and information
databases that provide access to periodicals and newspapers.
The fact that different commercial databases require different search
techniques, and moving from one to another (i.e. from the ebooks to the
periodical or newspaper databases) is sometimes not an intuitive process,
undoubtedly contributes to MeL’s underutilization.
To reduce these barriers, Rebecca E. Cawley, Statewide Database
Administrator, Library of Michigan, says that a process is underway to identify
and provide a single method for users to search Internet resources, library
catalogs and databases – thereby providing
Michigan
eLibrary’s future users with the ability to search all of MeL’s resources
using a single search command.
The Best of the
Internet component is perhaps most familiar to MDMLG members due to its
promotion by Selector and Collection Librarian Metta Lansdale
(lansdale@mel.org), herself,
formerly, a medical librarian. Metta
is quick to publicize the E Library’s medical topics to librarian colleagues,
using e-mail and listservs. However,
health and medical information is only one subject of the many Best
of the Internet sites listed here.
The
Michigan
eLibrary of books and information databases requires a login process.
Users may login from a library or, using a
Michigan
driver’s license number, from home or work.
Michigan
residents without a driver’s license, or too young to drive, may use a
Michigan
state ID.
Once logged in, the searcher has access to over 10,000
non-fiction e-books and over 1600 periodicals and newspapers.
Although many of the sources are available in full-text, only the ebooks
may be read cover-to-cover. Periodical
and newspaper resources are designed for searching and selective reading or
printing.
The Library of Michigan arranges for multiple year
contracts with database vendors. Contracts
for the current set of databases expire
September 30, 2003
. Committees are currently working
with the Library of Michigan to test proposed databases for 2003 forward.
Currently, all databases except the full text genealogy are
accessible by individuals at home or at work.
The genealogy database is only licensed for use in a library.
Future plans for MeL include a MeL catalog of
Michigan
library resources, digitized local
Michigan
resources, and a statewide reference service.
These are some noteworthy ways to explore MeL’s
electronic books and online tests:
v
Search for a specific phrase in over 10,000 ebooks.
v
Locate a book author by typing the name in any format, as long as
it includes the author’s last name.
v
Set up an individual account to “check out” a non-fiction book
for reading online. (MeL will
automatically return the book to the “shelf”
when the allotted time is over.)
v
While reading a book, look up an unfamiliar word in MeL’s
dictionary, and then hear the correct pronunciation aloud. (American Heritage
Dictionary)
v
Make some “e-notes” on what you are studying to be stored in
your account space.
v
Help someone prepare for an alternate career as a teacher, real
estate broker or nurse’s assistant by showing them the practice tests in the
Learn A Test database.
Part II will explore the
Michigan
eLibrary’s periodical databases.
Carol Attar
Attar Associates
BACK TO THE TOP
This month, the MDMLG News is calling attention to those medical librarians
who practice as "solo librarians"; that is, they are the only
professional librarian in their organization. As the economy continues to
struggle, any one of us may find ourselves in a similar situation. If you have
ever wondered what it might be like, what the good points and liabilities of
solo librarianship might be, please read on!
 |
I recently had the
opportunity to spend some time talking with two MDMLG members who are solo
librarians: Diana Balint of Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital and Patty Scholl of St.
Joseph/Mercy. Diana is an alumnus of the Library and Information Science Program
at Wayne State University and has worked at Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital for 10
years. Previous to this, she worked as a part time librarian at the Michigan
Osteopathic Medical Center until it closed. Patty, who is a native of upstate
New York (yes, there is more to New York than New York City, she reminds us)
relocated to southeastern lower Michigan as a result of her husband’s being
transferred here. Patty is also a graduate of the library school at Wayne and
has been the solo librarian at St. Joe’s for 6 years. |
| Diane Balint and Patty Scholl |
When librarians meet, the topic of budgets invariably comes up at some point.
Diana describes the administration at Pontiac Osteopathic as "fiscally
conservative". Nevertheless, the library has consistently received a
budget increase of 1-2% annually. With the rising cost of journal
subscriptions, this may not seem like much, but when so many are facing budget
cuts, at least this is a step in the forward direction. Diana is grateful for
even this modest increase in budget.
Although their overall budgets are fairly comparable, Patty’s budget has
been decreased by almost 30%. Patty remembers a time when the St. Joseph library
was staffed by 4 employees, including 2 full time professional librarians. She
now has only a part time assistant. Diana has a full time assistant.
In spite of budget limitations, both Diana and Patty are able to provide the
most current and pertinent information available to their customers. Patty has a
collection of about 250 journal titles and about 4000 books. Diana’s library
has 172 journal titles (she knows the exact number because she handles all of
the subscription renewals herself and most come due in … October!) and 40,000
print titles. Diana has a remote storage facility within the Pontiac Osteopathic
complex and does not have all 40,000 titles in the physical library space. Diana
and Patty like Ovid for access to Medline and all of the other databases and
full text that it provides. The hospital library at St. Joseph is officially
open from 8AM to 5PM; at Pontiac the staffed hours are 7:30AM to 7:30PM but
medical staff does have access 24 hours a day.
Ordinarily, patients and their families do not have access to the library at
Pontiac. Diana’s library is currently quite small but they will soon begin a
modestly ambitious and long overdue expansion that Diana hopes will be completed
shortly after the first of the year. Although she cannot accommodate patients
and their families in the library’s physical space, Diana still feels that
access to health care information is important for consumers. Patty agrees very
much with Diana’s view regarding information for consumers. Both librarians
are glad to take telephone questions from those outside of the medical staff
(except from attorneys!) and create a packet of information that is either sent
through the mail or via FAX. They say that sometimes, when a patient’s
diagnosis is life threatening or terminal it is hard to be the bearer of all bad
news. In these cases, if possible, they try to include any information that may
offer some hope or reason for optimism in order to provide somewhat of a
balance. We talked briefly about the medical community’s view toward
alternative and complementary medical options and both Patty and Diana are more
than willing to include information about these types of treatments, should a
patient express interest.
Patty feels that the physicians at St. Joe’s, especially the younger
residents and attending physicians are quite willing to let patients know that
they can get information from her. Diana hardly ever sees this happening at
Pontiac Osteopathic. This may be due in part to the physical locations of the
libraries within their hospitals. The library at St. Joseph’s is more
centrally located than the library at Pontiac Osteopathic, which is in the
"old tower", where ancillary services are provided (radiology, lab,
etc) and not where patient beds are.
Autonomy is the primary advantage that both Patty and Diana see in solo
librarianship. But even solo librarians have bosses! They both report to the
directors of medical education at their respective hospitals. Keeping in touch
with the boss is essential. As Diana puts it, "It is important to have an
advocate, someone who is in your corner." They keep in touch by stopping by
the boss’ office even just to visit. Patty will sometimes send e-mail to her
boss with FYI, "just thought you might be interested" kinds of items.
It’s not so much what is communicated as much as the point that
communication takes place, and on a regular basis.
Because they do not have contact with colleagues in their daily work
environment, both Patty and Diana feel that networking and contact through
participation in professional organizations is essential. Diana’s budget
allows her a stipend comparable to that of interns for registration and travel
for continuing education (lucky Diana), as well as the cost of membership fees
for professional organizations. Although Patty is not encouraged monetarily to
participate in continuing education or attend meetings, St. Joe’s does pay for
her membership fees for professional organizations, too. Both are members of 5
or 6 professional organizations.
Diana and Patty are solo librarians in every sense of the word – they do everything.
In addition to her responsibilities at St. Joe’s in Pontiac, Patty also serves
the Mercy hospital affiliate in Port Huron. She travels there only every other
month but meets their information needs between those times through e-mail, FAX
and by telephone. Both of these talented women are responsible for circulation,
collection development, inventory, cataloging and in a pinch, their own systems
maintenance. They feel that being organized and using effective time management
strategies are absolutely necessary skills, as well as the ability to work in
spite of many interruptions; otherwise, they say, they would always feel over
extended.
Working as a solo librarian in a medical facility has many challenges.
Librarians are not part of the professional medical care staff, nor are they
part of clerical support staff. They are like administrative staff in many ways,
but do not have the promotion opportunities that other administrative positions
offer. Diana mentioned that sometimes she feels that the librarian position
doesn’t "fit" well in the organization’s structure. But that is a
situation probably not unique to solo librarians. Patty and Diana meet
the challenges of the profession and their individual situations graciously and
effectively. I hope that their organizations appreciate them! Thank you to both
of them for their time.
Carla Caretto
Oxford Public Library
BACK TO THE
TOP
The concept of a Clinical Librarian has existed for more
than 30 years thanks to Gertrude Lamb. The
librarians in those early programs were the forerunners in assisting on patient
care teams. Today we are dealing with a population of health science librarians
who have been able to specialize in part towards electronic services,
acquisitions services and resource management.
We participate in patient care on an as needed basis, as requested by the
members of the patient-care team. By contrast an Informationist (sometimes
referred to as a Clinical Librarian) has special training in biostatistics,
computer applications and clinical medicine that most health sciences librarians
do not have.
What does an Informationist do (at least in theory)?
They do some of the same things that a regular, garden-variety health
science librarian does already. They
run searches and forward the information on to the patient care team.
They are able to filter the necessary information to advance the practice
of Evidence Based Medicine in his/her institution.
They may participate in patient rounds, Grand Rounds and journal clubs by
presenting information or conducting further research on a particular topic of
interest. An Informationist is
capable of retrieving the needed information as needed, at point of care, and is
actively creating systems to expedite and facilitate this interaction perhaps in
as detailed a manner as a particular interface for each member of the health
care team, for each patient. What
the Informationist does not do, at least according to listserv discussions and
the recent articles, is create and maintain a library collection.
There is no conclusion that the Informationist would even be
library-based.
Is all of this drastically different than what we are
already doing? Yes, and no.
The staff who use the library know most of us.
We all have those on our staff who find our services valuable and timely.
We also have many that do not use the resources available to them, either
because their schedules or egos don’t allow making that call or visit.
The idea of collaborating with an Informationist might help reach those
people. It’s difficult to ignore someone who is interacting with you in
person. A person trained to perceive and answer the unasked question either from
the patient care team, or the patient, improves care.
Davidoff and Florance’s call to arms (see Annals of
Internal Medicine 132(12):996-8) brings home the frustration our health
professionals feel at their inability to keep on top of the information
overload. They see the Informationist as the link between published information
and better medical practice. They
feel comfortable in relying on a trained, certified and regulated professional
who has the ability to tell them what is quality information and what is not,
much in the same way as they rely on someone to perform and interpret a clinical
chemistry, ultrasound or CT scan. They
reason that an Informationist would be financially viable by the cost savings of
better medical practice.
T. Scott Pluchak, BMLA/JMLA editor, argued in a 2000
editorial that the difference is in a fundamental question of whether or not an
Informationist needs to be a librarian. His
powerful words: “Librarians will quibble over the term ‘informationist.’
It has an awkward and contrived sound, but as a rhetorical device,
designed to get our attention, it certainly does the trick.
Some have been quick to reply that what Davidoff and Florance describe is
what librarians already do; we do not need another bit of jargon to make it
glitzy. The fact is, the work they
are describing is not what librarians already do. It should be.”[1] strike a
blow for a change in the way many of us practice librarianship.
The difference, at least to Davidoff and Florance, is the notion of
reading the literature and quality filtering so that the physician does not have
to, or at least does not have to do as much.
Pluchak argues that although as a profession we’ve never felt it was
our “place” to filter the information, indeed that it is librarian
malpractice to do so, the informationist would indeed have the knowledge and
training to perform that task.
There are several programs in place to train
Informationists. Some are Clinical
Librarian programs such as Dr. Guise’s at Vanderbilt, and some programs take
place within schools of medical informatics, pharmacy and nursing.
They all have some of the same educational components.
These include variants of bioinformatics, biostatistics, and clinical
medicine. Because of the diverse
complement of students in these programs, they all have different strengths and
purposes. Dr. Guise has written many
times on the importance of health science librarians also being versed in the
interpretation of statistics and the ability to assimilate and disseminate
information to physician colleagues in a useful format.
That is also the goal in many non-library school based programs.
Standardized training programs and certification procedures
would go a long way towards establishing the exact purpose of an Informationist
within an organization. It would
also assist in the ability of administrators to charge fees to insurance and
other revenue generating enterprises for the services of the Informationist.
Librarians also need to be aware of how their services impact direct
patient care. Generating user
statistics should not be the measure of librarians’ effectiveness; better
patient care should be.
Is there an Informationist in your future?
No one can say for certain because there is no working plan to create a
set of standards for the practice and training of Informationists.
There is also little financial incentive to do so – at least at
present. This may change as the
knowledge that better-informed caregivers give better care is validated.
This reduces waste and errors, which in turn increases revenue.
No administration would argue with that outcome.
References
1.
Pluchak TS. Informationists and librarians [editorial]. Bull Med
Libr Assoc 2000 Oct;88(4):391-2 (http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/tocrender.fcgi?iid=1192
)
Other reading:
Davidoff F,
Florance V. The informationist: a new health profession? [editorial]. Ann Intern
Med 2000 Jun 20; 132(12):996-8
Shearer BS, Seymour A, Capitani C. Bringing the best of
medical librarianship to the patient care team. J Med Libr Assoc 2002 Jan;
90(1):22-31 (http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/tocrender.fcgi?iid=1740)
Hersh W. medical informatics education: an alternative
pathway for training informationists. J Med Libr Assoc 2002 Jan; 90(1):76-79
(http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/tocrender.fcgi?iid=1740)
Juliet
Mullenmeister
St. Joseph Mercy of Macomb
BACK TO THE TOP
In case you haven't had a chance to read the last few
issues of the NLM technical bulletin, here's a summary of some of the most
interesting updates:
MAY-JUNE:
*PubMed records now include evidence-based medicine (EBM)
links. Many journals now feature
short articles that analyze and summarize important research articles in terms
of EBM. PubMed records now
include citations of these analytical summaries, with links to the citations of
the original articles, and vice versa. For
example, an original article's citation will include a link to the analytical
summary that says, "Comment in…"
and the analytical summary will have a link to the original article that
says, "Comment on…" The
summaries are assigned the Publication Type COMMENT, but they are not assigned
MeSH Headings. Thus the summaries will not be included in MEDLINE subset
searches, and subject access will be available only through the original
articles. For more information, see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj02/mj02_ebm.html
*TOXNET and DIRLINE now have new interfaces, allowing users to search all
TOXNET databases simultaneously, modify searches from the results page, and add
new limits. NLM has also released a
new toxicology and occupational health database, Haz-Map, which links jobs and
job tasks to occupational diseases, symptoms, and chemical exposures.
You can find Haz-Map at http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov
*OLDMEDLINE now includes journal citations for 1957-1965, accessible
through the NLM Gateway. In
addition, the MEDLINEplus Medical Encyclopedia was added to the Consumer Health
category of the NLM Gateway.
JULY-AUGUST:
*PubMed’s Linkout service now includes print holdings for libraries
that have their library holdings in NLM’s SERHOLD database.
For information on how to display your print holdings, see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/linkout/doc/liblinkout.html#serhold
*ClinicalTrials.gov search options have been expanded to include Boolean
searching, phrase searching, and the searching within results.
You can now limit a current search by location, treatment, or condition
(disease), and you can also view and modify the search query.
In addition, the search engine suggests alternate terms based on your
original query. NLM has also
added reciprocal links between PubMed citations and associated PubMed records.
For more information, see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ja02/ja02_ctgov.html
*PubMed
records now have a Links pull-down box that includes links to related records in
the Entrez database. The pull-down
box will also have links to online books in the PubMed bookshelf or PubMed
Central full-text articles that cite the item.
The August 2002 PubMed, NLM Gateway, ClinicalTrials.gov, and TOXNET
training manuals that correspond to NLM’s
National
Training
Center
courses are available online at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/web_based.html
The workbooks are free and not copyrighted, and you are encouraged to use
and customize them for your own training programs or workshops.
*An Educational Database Clearinghouse website has been
developed to help the public search and locate educational materials created by
National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) member libraries, the Resource
Libraries and the NLM. Records
include links to government, education, and nonprofit health-related and
biomedical web resources. The
database includes resources for the public, information professionals, and
health professionals, and it includes newsletters, pamphlets, tutorials, fact
sheets, websites, and more. The
database can be searched by audience, format, keyword, or audience.
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER:
*Medlineplus is now available in Spanish at http://medlineplus.gov/esp/
*A free copy of the List of Journals Indexed in Index
Medicus - 2002 – can now be downloaded at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html.
*The new
Journals database has replaced the PubMed Journal Browser.
You can search the Journals database by PubMed title abbreviation, NLM
ID, ISO abbreviation, pISSNs and eISSNs.
The summary display includes the above fields and links to PubMed
citations from the journal. The full
display includes Publication Start Year, Publication End Year, Publisher,
Language, and Country of Publication. Both
displays include links to the journal’s NLM Locatorplus catalog record, which
includes information including dates of MEDLINE indexing, the frequency of
publication, previous titles and “continued as” titles.
*Approximately
100,000 population-related journal citations from the former POPLINE database
have been added to MEDLINE. Additional
fields for searching these citations will be added in the future.
Jill Werdell Spreitzer
University of Detroit Mercy
BACK TO THE TOP
|
This year’s Conference was held October 16-18 at the
Campus Inn in Ann Arbor. Spearheaded
by Local Arrangements co-chairs Joan Emahiser and Doreen Bradley along with
Diane LeBar and her Education Committee members, it was an outstanding
conference – from the top-notch CE courses on Wednesday all the way through
the incredible dessert extravaganza Friday afternoon.
For those unable to attend the Conference, here are some highlights and
information gleaned from the various sessions. |
| Joan Emahiser and Alexia Estabrook |
There
were actually three CE courses: a full-day “The Business Case” and two
half-day sessions – “Palmtop Computers in the Library” and “Finding the
Best Resources to Answer Nursing Questions.”
Rosalind
Lett enlightened members on getting buy-in, funding, overcoming resistance and
initiating change through the use of a good Business Case.
Key to understanding this is remembering a business case is not a budget,
business plan, management accounting report or a financial reporting statement
-- it is a tool that supports planning and decision-making. Great handouts will
provide assistance in implementing a successful business case for our next
project.
Mari
Stoddard’s PDA session covered equipment, applications, and resources.
There are many things that could be highlighted from her presentation,
but here is one. Services that
libraries can offer with PDA’s include : test and recommend applications,
evaluate customer needs, beam library address or orientation handout to
patrons’ PDA, and provide enterprise initiatives (synchronization, conduits,
etc.).
Instructor
Peg Allen distributed a lengthy, informative handout for “Finding the Best
Resources to Answer Nursing Questions.” Here
are a few interesting web-sites:
Certification in various subspecialties of nursing:
www.nlnac.org
Nursing statistics: http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing/
Thursday
began with a dynamic speech by Robert E. Schumacher, M.D.
His speech on “The Librarian in the Clinical Environment” was so good
that attendees asked that his PowerPoint presentation be made available on the
MHSLA web page. Watch for it –
it’s worth it.
Thursday
afternoon featured three sessions. In
the "Marketing Plan: One Size Does Not Fit All" session, Mark Harris,
the Director of Marketing for the Genesys Health System, gave us a great
Marketing 101 overview for any librarian to follow in promoting library services
to their own organization. He
simplified marketing values into the four P's: Product, Price, Place and
Promotion and threw in a number five, People.
He emphasized the different marketing methods such as advertising and
public relations ideas that librarians should think about when promoting their
services in the organization and community.
Mark also alerted us to the benefits of tracking our marketing efforts so
we can test what works and what doesn't work.
In his remarks, Mark also gave kudos to Doris Blauet, the library
director at Genesys for her great service and marketing efforts in their
organization. All in all, the
session gave us a lot of ideas to try out in promoting our own libraries in the
organizations we serve.
“Web Design and Usability Issues” with Michelle
Bejian Lotia reviewed usability and interface design.
Some tips: Make a paper or white board layout of your web pages before
you create them in software package; Get user input on the naming of labels for
your page; Make similar things similar, different things different in
appearance.
Sandy Swanson presented an overview of “Health Care
Resources from AccessMichigan,” focusing on e-books and the Health and
Wellness Database. The latter has
some interesting sections in addition to the journal articles.
You might want to take a look at the Health Assessment Tools, Health
Organization Directory and Health News sections.
| Friday began with Breakfast with the Vendors – a
popular session with both vendors and attendees as time and space were provided
to interact and eat a fantastic breakfast. This
was followed by a Vendor Town Hall and Panel Discussion. |
 |
|
Diana Balint and Ken Nelson |
Friday
afternoon brought three more sessions. Leslie
Behm did a great job of demonstrating the NLM Gateway.
She explained that the Gateway allows users to search many NLM systems at
once. Leslie reminded us all that
the Gateway is the only way to search OLDMEDLINE (1957-1965), AIDS Meetings and
HSRProj. She pointed out that the
Locker is similar to the Cubby feature in PubMed, but that you can save
citations for a longer period of time. Leslie
also tipped us off that in PubMed searchers are able to limit to consumer health
journals by entering "jsubsetk".
Jacqueline
Voight led a lively discussion of “Cultural Competency in the Health Care
System.” It
is impossible to know everything about every culture, but we can ask how a
person from another culture would like to be treated in whatever situation is
involved.
The final presentation of the conference was a
“Consumer Health Panel” where Ruti Volk, Peggy Richwine and Marge Kars
presented tips and findings from their respective consumer health libraries.
One common theme was the need to be more proactive than just waiting for
consumers to walk into the library. Outreach
services with community organizations or public libraries were emphasized.
 |
It is impossible to end this article without mentioning
the dessert extravaganza sponsored by MDMLG.
The food served at meals and breaks had been extraordinary throughout the
conference. The dessert extravaganza
was a fitting gustatory end to a diet-breaking three days.
In all ways, it was a VERY good conference. |
Sue Skoglund, with input from
Marilyn Kostrzewski, Gayle Williams, and Janet Zimmerman
Henry Ford Wyandotte Riverside Hospitals
BACK TO THE TOP
According to the Random House Dictionary of the English Language teamwork is defined
as “a cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons
acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.” I
feel that this accurately describes the 2002 MHSLA Local Arrangements Committee
and I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to this
committee.
The 2002 Local Arrangements Committee had its
beginning back when Barb Platts was MDMLG President-Elect, the MHSLA conference
was in
Traverse City
and we were all happy about surviving the
millennium bug. When Barb approached
me two years ago about chairing the 2002 MHSLA Local Arrangements Committee, the
first thought that came into my head is that I should ask Doreen Bradley to be
on the committee. The second thought
was to have it in downtown
Ann Arbor
, MHSLA members have
been talking about holding the conference there for years.
The third thought was to have Doreen as Co-Chair, since she’s IN
Ann Arbor
anyway, right?
The fourth thought was why didn’t I keep my first three thoughts to
myself?!
Asking Doreen to co-chair the committee was
one of my better ideas, and it turned out to be a blessing. From the beginning
she was a creative inspiration and had a calming effect.
Her negotiations with the hotel were both efficient and effective; the
attention to detail was incredible. I’ve
never had so much fun as when we were deciding on the food for the conference.
Her ability to select desserts was beyond compare. Thank-you so much
Doreen, I’ve learned many things from you during this past year and a half.
Sue Skoglund was in charge of Mailing and she
took her job very seriously. When
Sue decides to do something, just sit back and let her go at it.
She was able to obtain mailing labels, email addresses, make
announcements on listservs, post to websites and contact current Presidents for
nine organizations from several states in the region, and two countries.
Go Girl!!! Sue from you I
learned persistence. Thanks for doing such a great job.
Alexia Estabrook is another story.
The poor girl, not only did she get talked into working on the Local
Arrangements Committee, again, (Me?
Talk someone into being on a committee?
Nah!) she worked on both Publicity and Registration. But it didn’t stop
there, Alexia was MHSLA
President-Elect (a.k.a. Conference Planning Chair) as well this past year.
She wrote articles and announcements for the newsletters, printed name
badges, graphically enhanced meal tickets and many versions of the conference
attendee list. Alexia, from you I
learned the real meaning of stamina, and I’m NOT going to try to walk in your
footsteps. Thank-you.
Ken Nelson, or should I say Sheik Ken, for he
must have felt like he had a harem being the only male member of the Local
Arrangements committee with ten women. I
really think he enjoyed himself, he always had a smile on his face.
Here’s a man you don’t want to play poker with.
Ken was able to secure a good sum of sponsorship monies from our dear,
thrifty vendors. Maybe we should
just call him “Mr. Money Bags.” From
you Ken I learned that there is “green” at the end of the rainbow, if
you can keep a straight face. Thanks Ken.
If you ever need someone to track down an
unscrupulous person or some artwork in a museum,
Diana Balint is your person. She
is now our official bounty hunter and/or tracker.
Diana worked both on the Special Event and Hospitality. The Virtual
Scavenger Hunt at the
Ann Arbor
art museum was both
interesting and fun. You re-enforced
my opinion that librarians are not to be trifled with.
Thank-you for all the time you put in.
Ellen O’Donnell has an amazing capacity to
take things in stride. As the
primary Registration person she handled the registration forms, each of the
participant’s menu selections, registration confirmations, accounts receivable
and did it without missing a step. I’ve never seen a more focused “packet
stuffer” in my life. With chaos reigning around us in the lobby of the hotel,
she just kept checking, double checking and stuffing. I was truly amazed.
From you Ellen I learned the meaning of cool, calm and collected.
Thanks for all your hard work.
Doris, Doris,
Doris
.
I’m talking about Doris Blauet of course, who else?!
It just wouldn’t be a conference without
Doris
.
Doris
was in charge of
Printing for this conference and did a wonderful job with the brochures,
programs and signage. More
importantly her laughter and sense of humor kept us all going.
I can always count on her to look at the lighter side of things. From you
I learned that there is a light at the end of the tunnel; even though it might
be a train, it’s still a light! Thanks
for keeping me laughing.
She’s smart, she’s blonde and her name is
Marilyn. Marilyn Kostrzewski that
is. Marilyn worked with Diana on the
Special Event and Hospitality. Together
they sacrificed themselves to scour the streets, shops, museums, local agencies
and all those places where one might procure items for door prizes or the
Hospitality Desk. It was a tough job
walking around
Ann Arbor
on a sunny summer
afternoon, going through stores and sampling the culinary wares of the local
merchants. You did it for the “team” and we appreciate it.
From you I learned that some sacrifices are worth it.
Thank-you.
Diane O’Keefe was in charge of
Audio-Visuals, bless her! This had to be one of the worst years for filling
speaker equipment requests. Diane
commented on “feeling like a pack
mule” as she ran breathlessly from room to room, and floor to floor, ensuring
that all the equipment was present and operational.
I know it would have been easier if we could have “beamed” the
equipment from place to place, but it just wasn’t possible. Technology really
does need to catch up with science fiction.
From Diane I learned that chocolate heals all wounds and cigarette
cravings. Thanks for the homemade
goodies and your willingness to do one of the toughest jobs at the conference.
Last, but far from least is Diane Piskorowski.
Diane and I have known each other for a very long time; I’m not going
to mention how many years. Diane was
in charge of the BYOB program and decorated the box for the unwanted conference
bags. We received a number of
compliments on the box and the program (the leftover conference bags will
go to a shelter). With a smile and
soft voice, Diane repeatedly volunteered to help whenever or wherever it was
needed. From you, Diane, I saw
in action the true meaning of volunteerism.
I would personally like to thank each member
of this committee for all their hard work, creative thinking and inspiring
ideas. You’ve been wonderful to
work with and I’m going to miss our little “meet and eat” sessions.
I’ve never met a group of people so willing to roll up
their sleeves, jump in and help out.
Thank-you all so much. We
have to do this again sometime!!
Joan A. Emahiser
Beaumont Hospital
The
next MDMLG meeting will be held at the David Adamany Undergraduate Library at
Wayne State University on Thursday, November 21, 2002.
The program features three librarians who have experienced major changes
in their careers. Cindy Krolikowski
was a staff librarian who suddenly became a manager over her colleagues in a
unionized setting. Sharon Phillips
went from being library director at Oakwood Hospital to media services at Wayne
State University Libraries to Director, Human Resources & Organizational
Development at WSU Libraries. Lynn
Sutton went from director of medical libraries at both Detroit-Macomb hospitals
and Harper Hospital to director at Wayne State University Science Library to
Associate Dean at WSU Libraries. How
they did it and what they see for the future should be interesting and
informative for all medical librarians in this changing healthcare environment.
Registration
begins at 12:30 p.m.. Please note the change in format: the program
will begin at 1:00 p.m. followed by the break and business meeting.
Further information, along with a map, can be found on the MDMLG
Meetings web page.
Sue Skoglund
Henry Ford Wyandotte Riverside Hospitals
 Natalie
Hatch has resigned from her position at Windsor Regional Hospital to take a
position at Windsor Public Library. Mary-Ellen
Bechard is the coordinator at the Windsor Regional Hospital Health Sciences
Library.
Several
MDMLG members were recently elected to MHSLA office.
Congratulations to Joan Emahiser, President-Elect; Janet Zimmerman,
Treasurer; and Marilyn Kostrzewski and Barbara Platts, Nominating Committee.
Alexia Estabrook is the newly installed President of MHSLA.
Diana
Balint has been appointed our new MHSLA Representative.
She replaces Joan Emahiser, the new President-Elect of MHSLA.
Upcoming Dates:
| Date |
Event |
| November
21, 2002 |
MDMLG
meeting |
| December
10, 2002 |
Toxnet
class at Wayne State University Shiffman Medical Library |
| February
20, 2003 |
MDMLG
meeting |
| April
17, 2003 |
MDMLG
meeting |
| June
19, 2003 |
Summer
Luncheon at the Sterling Inn, Sterling Heights |
| September
18, 2003 |
MDMLG
meeting |
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Communications Committee 2002-2003
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