National Network of Libraries of Medicine

nnlm.gov

Dragonfly

Spring 2003 -- Volume 34, Number 2

RML Directors Meeting, May 2, 2003

by Elaine Graham, Associate Director
Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library (PSRML)

(reprinted with permission from Latitudes,newsletter of the PSRML,
May/June 2003, volume 12, issue 3)

Regional Medical Library (RML) directors and staff joined National Library of Medicine (NLM) staff for an "all-RML" meeting prior to the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. Approximately 70 staff members from the eight RMLs were present to hear an update from NLM, and to discuss DOCLINE future enhancements, ILL costs, electronic journals, the National Online Training Center and Clearinghouse, and outreach evaluation collaboration. Following the general session, smaller breakout discussion groups gathered to consider issues in consumer health information, outreach and education, network services, and NN/LM planning.

Future of DOCLINE

Since December 2001, the DOCLINE Interface Review Team, comprised of NLM and RML staff members, has worked on the following goals: to identify and resolve user issues with DOCLINE; to improve ease of use; to eliminate inconsistencies; to increase user efficiency; to implement requested enhancements, and to integrate DOCINE with other NLM systems, whenever feasible and desirable. The comprehensive interface review of DOCLINE has been completed, and a phased project plan has been developed to accomplish DOCUSER redesign, requests redesign, SERHOLD redesign, and Loansome Doc redesign. The consensus at the RML Directors Meeting was that the plan for DOCLINE enhancement should be implemented as presented by the Interface Review Team. In addition, it was agreed that NLM's phased implementation of the ISO/ILL protocol should continue, due to the importance of the protocol for many of the large lending libraries in the NN/LM network. NLM staff will need to adjust the timeline for DOCLINE enhancements to accommodate the ISO/ILL protocol implementation.

ILL Questionnaire

A national survey on ILL costs was conducted between March 25 and April 9, 2003, with 866 responses from DOCLINE participants. The average number of items borrowed through DOCLINE was 1,520, and the average percentage of DOCLINE requests paid for was 37%. The average charge per request of DOCLINE borrow requests paid for was $9.98; the median as well as the mode charge was $11.00. (The ILL questionnaire also asked about FreeShare participation and satisfaction; those results are available on the PSRML web site at: http://nnlm.gov/psr/pres/ FreeShare to the Rescue!)

National Maximum ILL Charge

A number of NN/LM Resource Libraries across the country have reported that the national maximum charge of $11 for a filled DOCLINE request does not allow them to recover the costs of providing ILL service. The actual costs of providing ILL service can vary greatly from one library to another, reflecting differences due to factors such as volume of requests received and prevailing wage rates. Given these variations, it was decided that an NN/LM ILL cost study is not warranted. However, the data from the NN/LM ILL questionnaire, along with data that will be available from NN/LM Resource Libraries that are contributing to the Association of Research Libraries ILL study, will be useful in deciding an increase in the national maximum ILL charge. It was agreed that the national maximum charge will include electronic delivery; that is, an extra fee cannot be applied for electronic delivery, since it does not cause an interruption in workflow. Fax delivery may in many cases cause an interruption in workflow, and a surcharge is allowable for fax transmission.

Electronic Journals

Cost and access issues surrounding electronic journals continue to be concerns in planning and maintaining NN/LM network services. License agreements that restrict copying for ILLs to libraries or for unaffiliated health professionals are a particular concern. At least one major library has been able to negotiate licensing language that allows copying for requests related to a clinical emergency. RMLs and Resource Libraries that are part of larger systems may find it difficult to influence the content of systemwide licensing agreements. While some license agreements have language limiting disclosure of the pricing terms of the agreement, there was a question as to whether such a non-disclosure clause would be binding in the case of state and public institutions. NLM is studying approaches to improving access and visibility of open access publications; one idea is to have DOCLINE return a message when a request is transmitted for an article that is freely available in electronic form. (Currently, NLM notifies the requesting library when a DOCLINE request is received for an item that can be obtained directly at no cost.)

National Online Training Center (NTCC)

Public health and environmental workers are attending the NTCC courses in growing numbers; these participants are interested in learning about MeSH, as well as about the search interfaces. The number of course materials linked in the Educational Clearinghouse Database - http://nnlm.gov/train/ - is increasing; the RMLs and the NTCC will be doing additional promotion to raise awareness of this resource and to encourage additional entries. The NTCC expects to announce shortly the schedule for advanced training from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI); the course to be offered is designed specifically for information specialists who provide support to users of NCBI's molecular biology services. (PSRML will announce the schedule on the regional listserv.) NTCC is also planning to test a simultaneous videocast of a PubMed course later this year.

Outreach Evaluation

In the current contract year (Year 3), each RML will implement regional projects related to two national plans for outreach, one plan focusing on outreach to the public health workforce and the second plan on outreach to public libraries. The plans were developed as a collaborative effort among the RMLs and NLM; we will announce the web address of these plans as soon as they become available. The national plans are documented in the form of logic models, which outline objectives, activities, milestones, and outcomes. Logic models have been used increasingly as a tool by non-profit organizations to demonstrate the effectiveness of their program activities by initiating and completing outcome-oriented evaluation of projects. EG

Dragonfly, Spring 2003- Volume 34 Number 2
(posted on PNRNews on May 21, 2003)

This publication is funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. N01-LM-1-3516.

NN/LM | UW HSL | NN/LM PNR | Contact us: nnlm@u.washington.edu | Revised: May 20, 2003

National Network of Libraries of Medicine

nnlm.gov

Dragonfly

Spring 2003 -- Volume 34, Number 2

RML Directors Meeting, May 2, 2003

URL: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/news/200304/rmldirectors.html