Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday and Friday, 6/24 & 6/25
The completion of these two days marks three weeks for a total of 8 days at the library. The internship is HALF OVER already. They say that time flies when you are having fun -- and time is certainly flying. During these two days, I spent more time reviewing the "g" drive and thinking about management issues. I completed the book and shelflist card pulling project. Tille was gone for the day, so I had the opportunity to help out at the desk a little and made sure to observe if I didn't know how to do something. I changed a printer cartridge, helped a couple of patrons with computer issues, shelved some books, sat in the Community Library for a bit (and worked on this blog:) Little things, I know, but it makes me feel good to be able to help out if only a little.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Blood Drive/Day with the Director
Picked up the car Tuesday evening. So, back to the library on Wed., June 23. The library takes part in the promotion of Bayview's blood drives. They set up in the conference room across the hall, it was time for me to donate again so that was my first order of business. Got a voucher for a free lunch from the cafeteria, too.
Much of the rest of the day was spent with the library director, Linda. Twice a year, the staff has a retreat off-site to discuss important library issues and plans. This took place in May and one of the topics of discussion was a survey conducted this spring with the faculty and staff at Bayview. There were 18 questions with a number of answer options each. Some of the questions:
How do you use the Harrison Library?
Did you know the library has books on?
What services are most beneficial to you?
How do you prefer to receive library instruction?
It was interesting that the survey indicated that 2:1, the preference was for individual instruction instead of formal classes.
I also began a book pulling project -- taking those books off the shelves that Tillie had decided should be weeded and pulling the cards from the shelf list. This is one task I have experience with working at the CCBC!!
Much of the rest of the day was spent with the library director, Linda. Twice a year, the staff has a retreat off-site to discuss important library issues and plans. This took place in May and one of the topics of discussion was a survey conducted this spring with the faculty and staff at Bayview. There were 18 questions with a number of answer options each. Some of the questions:
How do you use the Harrison Library?
Did you know the library has books on?
What services are most beneficial to you?
How do you prefer to receive library instruction?
It was interesting that the survey indicated that 2:1, the preference was for individual instruction instead of formal classes.
I also began a book pulling project -- taking those books off the shelves that Tillie had decided should be weeded and pulling the cards from the shelf list. This is one task I have experience with working at the CCBC!!
HOME (not part of the internship, but . . .)
Traveled home (to Wisconsin) on Thursday, 6/17. Spent a busy day at the lab on Friday. Heidi and children were visiting from Minnesota. We saw Toy Story III while eating pizza and popcorn at the Cinema Cafe in Stoughton on Saturday. Sunday was Father's Day and Monday was Glen's 60th birthday. Great weekend.
My flight out from Milwaukee on Monday was delayed, however, and then there was "weather" that delayed it more, so didn't actually get back to Josh's until 1 AM on Tuesday. Our car was at the body shop for repairs (an "inattentive" driver without insurance decided to move into the lane already occupied by us). No time to get it fixed before our trip to MD and it was drivable -- so a little (or maybe a lot of) duct tape (the Red-Green treatment) and repairs in Maryland. It wasn't done yet, though, so couldn't go back to Bayview until Wednesday.
My flight out from Milwaukee on Monday was delayed, however, and then there was "weather" that delayed it more, so didn't actually get back to Josh's until 1 AM on Tuesday. Our car was at the body shop for repairs (an "inattentive" driver without insurance decided to move into the lane already occupied by us). No time to get it fixed before our trip to MD and it was drivable -- so a little (or maybe a lot of) duct tape (the Red-Green treatment) and repairs in Maryland. It wasn't done yet, though, so couldn't go back to Bayview until Wednesday.
Wednesday, June 16
Statistics and archives with Irene today. Irene has the title of library associate. She is a delightful woman from Russia who graciously shares her office with me. Irene takes care of many of the clerical tasks necessary in a busy library, as well as being the back-up -- taking care of the desk when Tillie is away, sitting in the Community Health Library when Christine needs to be away, answering the phone, assisting patrons, etc. She takes part in the cataloging process, gathers statistics into excel sheets, and works on archives. Today she took time out of her busy schedule to talk about statistics and archives.
Each member of the library staff has a monthly "time tracking form" customized to their particular postion. An informationist will log how much time was spent doing searches as well as how many searches were done, for instance. At the end of the month, Irene will combine these stats. There are other statistics to be logged -- number of class participants, # of reference questions, items cataloged, circulation records, library patron walk-ins, etc. A yearly summary of these is compiled and a five year record is maintained to easily note any major increases or decreases in an area. These statistics do NOT have to be shared with administration.
Archives: A quick note here about a Bayview medical center archive project that has begun here in the fall of 2009. Hard copy archival items are being filed by topic and moved into electronic format using Archon developed at the University of Illinois, (Archon is award-winning software for archivists and manuscript curators. It automatically publishes archival descriptive information and digital archival objects in a user-friendly website.)
In addition, Irene showed me the "classical book collection" (that I did not mention in my earlier blog about the books in the library). These are historical books kept in a locked glass cabinet. They DO circulate. I was also very impressed by a collection of books prepared by the library staff that focus on an individual (or in one case, a couple) Bayview doctor. There is, for instance, a 5 volume set of Harrison Works, containing information about and the papers of Harold E. Harrison, the doctor for which the library was named.
Camtasia: One more note for today -- I spent just a little time with Christine who is working on preparing some online tutorials to put on the library website using Camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp.
Each member of the library staff has a monthly "time tracking form" customized to their particular postion. An informationist will log how much time was spent doing searches as well as how many searches were done, for instance. At the end of the month, Irene will combine these stats. There are other statistics to be logged -- number of class participants, # of reference questions, items cataloged, circulation records, library patron walk-ins, etc. A yearly summary of these is compiled and a five year record is maintained to easily note any major increases or decreases in an area. These statistics do NOT have to be shared with administration.
Archives: A quick note here about a Bayview medical center archive project that has begun here in the fall of 2009. Hard copy archival items are being filed by topic and moved into electronic format using Archon developed at the University of Illinois, (Archon is award-winning software for archivists and manuscript curators. It automatically publishes archival descriptive information and digital archival objects in a user-friendly website.)
In addition, Irene showed me the "classical book collection" (that I did not mention in my earlier blog about the books in the library). These are historical books kept in a locked glass cabinet. They DO circulate. I was also very impressed by a collection of books prepared by the library staff that focus on an individual (or in one case, a couple) Bayview doctor. There is, for instance, a 5 volume set of Harrison Works, containing information about and the papers of Harold E. Harrison, the doctor for which the library was named.
Camtasia: One more note for today -- I spent just a little time with Christine who is working on preparing some online tutorials to put on the library website using Camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp.
Inside Hopkins
We get a daily email feed "Inside Hopkins" that includes a "Hopkins Trivia Challenge". Here's today's:
Question: What sideline did Max Brödel (1870-1941), founding director of the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine, pursue during the 1920s and early '30s?
Answer: During Prohibition, the German-born Brödel was given beer yeast obtained in New York by his great friend, famed newspaperman H.L. Mencken. Brödel grew and perfected it in the Hopkins bacteriological laboratory, creating a pure strain that he then used to provide Mencken and other friends with good beer throughout the Prohibition drought.
Question: What sideline did Max Brödel (1870-1941), founding director of the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine, pursue during the 1920s and early '30s?
Answer: During Prohibition, the German-born Brödel was given beer yeast obtained in New York by his great friend, famed newspaperman H.L. Mencken. Brödel grew and perfected it in the Hopkins bacteriological laboratory, creating a pure strain that he then used to provide Mencken and other friends with good beer throughout the Prohibition drought.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Today was my day to work with Tillie and learn about Clinical collection development. Tillie is a para-professional who also holds the title of library informationist -- by virtue of the professional duties she performs and performs well. She has worked in the library for 18 years and sits at the front desk. She takes care of many things in addition to collection development, of course -- including customer service, circulation, ILL (interlibrary loan), book sales, and some cataloging (plus much more I would guess) . The library uses Horizon, an integrated library system from SirsiDynix for circulation and cataloging. Book selections are made with a combination of knowing the patrons and reviews. Tillie has a good feel for what will circulate. The library subscribes to Doody's Reviews and receives weeeky alerts based on the library's profile. There is a core title list that includes "essential titles". Tillie is a librarian selector -- scoring books on: content, relevancy, value for dollor, reputation, and reviews. The librarian selectors provide input for choosing the essential titles as well as recommendations for books that should be on the core title list. Books are purchased from Majors with a discount provided to hospitals.
For those of you non-librarians reading this blog, I apologize for all this library stuff, and absolve you of any guilt if you choose NOT to read further in this post. That is if there IS anyone reading this blog. . .
And then there's everyone's favorite job, next to the budget, that is -- weeding:) Tillie has a good system that involves shelflist cards and circulation statistics from Horizon. Since for the most part, it is not advisable to keep medical books longer than 5 years (outdated medical information can be dangerous), the books are reviewed and removed from the collection basically as follows. Books that circulate well but have an update available will be weeded when the update has been ordered and received. Books that do not have an update available but continue to circulate are retained. On the other hand, even if there IS an update, if a book has not circulated in two years, it will be weeded and the update will not be purchased. Of course, there are other factors to consider when deciding whether or not to purchase the update -- such as the cost of the book vs. the number of uses of the preceding edition. My impression is that a good collection and weeding process involves both a solid set of guidelines AND a knowledge of the library clientele combined with a feel for what works best.
(Spent a lot of time with Tillie today -- but almost finished:)
Sherlock: A handy-dandy hard copy (also available online on the "g" drive) binder containing basic information including phone numbers, policies and procedures. Great idea to have this available -- since every once in a while I get a chance to watch the desk and answer the phone when someone steps out.
For those of you non-librarians reading this blog, I apologize for all this library stuff, and absolve you of any guilt if you choose NOT to read further in this post. That is if there IS anyone reading this blog. . .
And then there's everyone's favorite job, next to the budget, that is -- weeding:) Tillie has a good system that involves shelflist cards and circulation statistics from Horizon. Since for the most part, it is not advisable to keep medical books longer than 5 years (outdated medical information can be dangerous), the books are reviewed and removed from the collection basically as follows. Books that circulate well but have an update available will be weeded when the update has been ordered and received. Books that do not have an update available but continue to circulate are retained. On the other hand, even if there IS an update, if a book has not circulated in two years, it will be weeded and the update will not be purchased. Of course, there are other factors to consider when deciding whether or not to purchase the update -- such as the cost of the book vs. the number of uses of the preceding edition. My impression is that a good collection and weeding process involves both a solid set of guidelines AND a knowledge of the library clientele combined with a feel for what works best.
(Spent a lot of time with Tillie today -- but almost finished:)
Sherlock: A handy-dandy hard copy (also available online on the "g" drive) binder containing basic information including phone numbers, policies and procedures. Great idea to have this available -- since every once in a while I get a chance to watch the desk and answer the phone when someone steps out.
Librarian as Informationist
Actually the idea of librarian as informationist in certain settings was discussed as early as 1974. Variations on this theme include "clinical medical librarian", "clinical librarian", "librarian in context" and "informationist". I am posting this at this point in my blog because the previous blog describes how the librarian functions as an informationist by rounding. We normally think of librarians providing services "at the library". In this case, the librarian takes library services to health professionals by attending rounds, morning report and conferences -- functioning as librarians "in context". Here are some of the benefits.
–Helps the librarian know what the important topics or common diagnoses are in that unit
•May impact collection development
–Increases the librarian’s value to the hospital
–Boosts the visibility of the library and its services
•May increase use of library resources: Provides a venue to promote library resources.
The impetus to use the title here at Bayview originated with the hospital president and I think, fits the work of these librarians well.
The term informationist can be and is used in a different way in other institutions (e.g. NIH library has 15 informationists) to describe an individual who is both a librarian and who has "extensive expertise in a clinical or research specialty". (Grefsheim, SF, et al, J Med Libr Assoc 98(2) April 2010)
Thank you to Christine Caufield-Noll for the copy of her presentation and the additional information provided from which I have borrowed heavily.
–Helps the librarian know what the important topics or common diagnoses are in that unit
•May impact collection development
–Increases the librarian’s value to the hospital
–Boosts the visibility of the library and its services
•May increase use of library resources: Provides a venue to promote library resources.
The impetus to use the title here at Bayview originated with the hospital president and I think, fits the work of these librarians well.
The term informationist can be and is used in a different way in other institutions (e.g. NIH library has 15 informationists) to describe an individual who is both a librarian and who has "extensive expertise in a clinical or research specialty". (Grefsheim, SF, et al, J Med Libr Assoc 98(2) April 2010)
Thank you to Christine Caufield-Noll for the copy of her presentation and the additional information provided from which I have borrowed heavily.
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