• Mary Blackwelder, Medical College of Wisconsin Todd Wehr Library, Milwaukee, WI
• Jane Blumenthal, University of Michigan Taubman Medical Library,Ann Arbor, MI
• Pam Bradigan, Ohio State University Prior Health Sciences Library, Columbus, OH
• Arlis Dittmer, Blessing Health System, Blessing Health Professions Library, Quincy, IL
• Liz Fine (MN), University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries, Minneapolis, MN
• Martha Hardy, Metropolitan State University Library Services, St. Paul, MN
• Heather Holmes, Summa Health System Medical Library, Akron, OH
• Matt Hoy (WI), Mayo Clinic Health System Eau Claire Library and AV Services, Eau Claire, WI
• Rhona S. Kelley (IL), Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library, Springfield, IL
• Joyce Lindstrom (IA), Des Moines University Medical Library, Des Moines, IA
• Mike McGraw (OH), Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Health Sciences Library, Cleveland, OH
• Cody McSellers-McCray, Westside Health Authority, Chicago, IL
• Barbara Platts (MI), Munson Healthcare Library Services, Traverse City, MI
• Elizabeth Rowan (KY), Shriners Hospital for Children Library/Learning Resource Center, Lexington, KY
• Travis Schultz (ND), Medcenter One Health Library, Bismarck, ND
• James Shedlock, Northwestern University Galter Health Sciences Library, Chicago, IL
• Elaine Skopelja (IN), Indiana University School of Medicine Library, Indianapolis, IN
• Corey B. Smith PhD, Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board, Northern Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center, Rapid City, SD
• Janet Stith,University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center Library, Lexington, KY
• Molly Youngkin (SD), Wegner Health Science Information Center, Sioux Falls, SD

The E-Licensing Working Group of the RAC at the GMR has been in contact with the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) about possibly offering group purchasing of health-related online packages (ebooks, ejournals, databases, etc) to all GMR members in the 10-state region. In order to determine which packages might be initially offered to GMR members, we would like you to complete a questionnaire.

All of these are the electronic versions – no print versions. Please submit your completed survey by 5/31/2010. These offers are for new business only. The vendors are not at this time willing to change pre-existing packages. However, if this project brings them enough new business, they may take notice of it and be more inclined to offer deals for pre-existing packages.

There are virtually no price lists for any of these products. As is the case with many vendors, we won’t know what price they are willing to come down to or discount they might offer, unless we know how many organizations are interested in the product in the first place. This is sort of the chicken/egg syndrome.

Please fill out the questionnaire, which can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/elicensing

Thank you!!
Max Anderson

Amplify your ILL service -  Interlibrary Loan is a service that doesn’t have to change very much.  It still works if you don’t do anything.  This is an area that can easily be brought into the new millennium.  The first thing you can do is to STOP invoicing other libraries for the things that you borrow.  Apply for an EFTS Award. The staff at the Electronic Fund Transfer System are happy to assist you with the paper work. The GMR is supoorting funding for it.

Take a  class – You may be able to get to a meeting but, that’s it! You can’t take a class too.  Apply for the Professional Development Award to cover the cost of the class.  You might find that your local community college has a course that you can take.  Apply for the Professional Development Award to defer the cost of  registration.  Consider a meeting that you may not usually go to Internet Librarian, EDUCAUSE, ALA or maybe a health professional meeting. You need to have a project that you are working on that the class will support and the permission of your administration the award is issued through a cost reimbursement.  You can only apply for this award once.

Bring in a speaker -  Sometimes we could benefit from the opportunity to be reminded that we are a growing profession.  The skills that we have, need to be cultivated to remain viable.  Consider applying for the Professional Instruction Award to offer your group the opportunity to enjoy a speaker you may not otherwise have been able to invite.

Looking to raise awareness of the library by administration? Want you or your library to move up in the eyes of your institution? Try creating an elevator speech to boost the worth of your work!

This year for National Medical Librarians Month, the Advocacy Working Group of the Regional Advisory Council to the GMR discussed how to advocate our worth to our administrators.  In the past we have looked at ways to market the library to clinicians and consumers; this year we wanted to focus on reaching administration.  Time is in short supply for most of as we multi-task our way through our busy days. So how do we even reach administration when our paths cross only briefly through out the week?  One proven method is to be prepared with an elevator speech.

What is an elevator speech?
The idea behind an elevator speech is to be able to convey your message in the length of an elevator ride, about 30 seconds or 150 words. In that short length of time you want to clearly and concisely present your message to a targeted audience.  Although it’s called an elevator speech you don’t want it to come off like you are presenting a canned speech.  The passion for your work, your unique contribution to the organization needs to shine through.  A great elevator speech will leave a lasting impression on the listener and will convey the worth of your work to your organization.

What do you say?
What you say depends upon you and your own personal style, what message you want to convey and to whom you are speaking. The message to the Chief Nursing Officer about resources that support your hospital’s magnet journey maybe be very different than your message to the Head of Pharmacy or the Chief Financial Officer. Your message must have meaning, it must resonate with the receiver. Joy Kennedy, Head Librarian of the Health Resource Library at Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, IL, uses her own personal style of story telling when she bumps into administrators in the elevator or in the hallway.  Stories have an emotional impact that numbers do not have.  She makes it a point to tell recent stories of the library. She tells how resources and personnel made the difference in the lives of patients and their families.  We all have helped a patient or their family not only by finding information, but by taking the time to listen to them. Let your administrators know the support you give, not only to clinicians but to patients and families.

Some institutions, like Gundersen Lutheran in LaCrosse, Wisconsin take elevator speech to the top floor.  According to Melinda Orebaugh, Director of Library and Health Information Services at Gundersen Lutheran, their CLO brought elevator speech to their organization. There are four major points they incorporate in their elevator speeches and this format is required at manager meetings. The four points are:

• What are we trying to do?
• Why is this important?
• What will success look like?
• What do we need from you?

Melinda says this format works very well for her; she uses it regularly in formal and informal meetings. The format helps convey the bottom line value of the library. It can be used to clearly align the library with the institution’s strategic plan.

How to get started?
You may already have an elevator speech,  a strategy for trying to quickly convey your worth to administrators. If so we want to hear from you, you can help the rest of us get started. Share your successes and even your near-misses with us all, and we can learn to be better communicators.  If you don’t have one there, not surprisingly, there are many elevator speech resources on the web. There’s even a web program that will help to build one!

For this celebration month for Medical Librarians we encourage you to share your speech here with one another! In text or audio format we want to hear from you! Remember keep it 100-150 works and about 30 seconds in length.  It needs to be concise sound bites that are easily digested. Share your elevator speech, help us all learn from one another!

Tips and ideas on Elevator Speeches from the Web
To save you the trouble of a quick Google search, here are some places you might want to visit as you plan your elevator speech:

A free 15 second Pitch Wizard helps you create and keep a multiple speeches on the internet:
http://www.15secondpitch.com/new/index.asp

Do’s & Don’ts of Elevator Speeches:
http://www.quintcareers.com/elevator_speech_dos-donts.html

Elevator Speeches 101:
http://www.elevatorpitchessentials.com/essays/ElevatorPitch.html

Preparing Your Speech:
http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/career/content/elevatorspeech.pdf

Here is an example of a 30-second elevator speech:

In the area of electronic licensing (elicensing), the GMR proposes to provide a variety of ways that network members can learn about elicensing so as to negotiate more effective agreements with vendors and to inform network members about group licensing opportunities. The elicensing work group discussed these issues, reviewed the current GMR ejournal webpage http://nnlm.gov/gmr/resourcesharing/ejournals.html, and contributed recommendations for implementation.

The communications technologies session focused on ways of fostering communication through a variety of tools, such as lists, The Cornflower, web conferencing, email, and wikis.

The public health breakout session identified potential partners for members and for the GMR. National Library of Medicine resources needed by public health professionals were also discussed.

One suggestion from the community based organization (CBO) breakout session was for the GMR to concentrate on a bottom-up approach to CBOs. Also discussed were ways to engage CBOs in the partnering process.

Other recommendations will be forthcoming.