Technology and Libraries is a new feature on The Marquee that allows librarians to discuss their thoughts on how technology intertwines with a libraries functions - good or bad. Susan Robishaw, the chair of our technology committee, is our first poster.

My Historical Perspective
Susan Robishaw
Assistant Director Health Sciences Libraries
Geisenger Health System

We just moved into a new library a few months ago. It’s in a brand new, technologically sophisticated building. We had been in the old, “temporary” library for 25 years; the move gave us a much welcomed opportunity to integrate the patchwork of technology and machines that accumulated over the years.

The new library has 17 public access pcs, 7 staff pcs, including an Ariel workstation with a color scanner, and a wireless laptop. Our classroom is equipped with 1 instructor and 7 student pcs. Physicians can use the classroom pcs, but not the public ones, to access our EMR system. The meeting room has a computer-compatible plasma screen tv. Both rooms are equipped with “Wall-Talkers,” a gridded whiteboard cut to our specifications, and attached to the walls. The library has Geisinger wireless, public wireless and 10 stations for public cabled Internet access. Our state-of the-art multifunctional photocopiers serve as the default printers for the pcs as well as black & white scanners and fax machines.

When I came here 20 years ago this fall, the library had a photocopier, an OCLC terminal, and a TI Silent 700 terminal with an acoustic coupler. To receive or send a fax, we had to go the system administration headquarters, a ¼ of a mile away. This was quite a contrast to the corporate library where I worked in Texas before coming to Geisinger. There I had 2 IBM pcs, a fax, and access to company wide email on a DEC mainframe. (I also had the opportunity to participate in a beta test of the first Macs, though, ultimately, the company decided to follow the IBM path.)

As the reference librarian at Geisenger, I received the first library pc. It had a modem so I could use it to access NLM, BRS and DIALOG. Over the years we added newer pcs, one at a time. We kept the older ones, too, eventually, building a collection of 10 pcs all different brands and/or models. I was the pc person. I did the troubleshooting and even installed modems and additional memory cards.

Today, we have 4 IT people assigned to the library to manage our pcs and software, a help desk which is staffed 24 hours per day and a contract for hardware support. In 1993, we participated in a National Science Foundation grant to bring the Internet to Geisinger. In 1995, we introduced our locally hosted networked version of Ovid (then CD+), piggy-backing on the T1 and T3 lines that connected our hospitals and far-flung clinics in order to implement our EMR. In 1996, the library was one of the first departments to have a site on our company intranet.

In the last 12 years, we have increased our electronic collection, moved from a card catalog to an online one and transitioned to completely electronic document delivery to our customers. We really pound RefWorks/RefShare for individual and collaborative projects.

Yet I feel like I’m falling behind, technologically-speaking. We don’t have a blog or a wiki and we aren’t using Web 2.0. Should we be?

We still have the TI Silent 700, though.

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Samaritan Medical Center Circuit Librarian Betsy Meldrim shows Lewis County General Hospital Staff Development Director Kathy Millard how to find nursing articles in PubMed using the new notebook computer and wireless Internet router provided by a technology award from the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.

Michael K. Chartrand - Hunter-Rice Health Sciences Library, Watertown, NY                

Holy Name Hospital is currently undergoing a construction project.  The Hospital is currently building a new Emergency Room, Conference Center and Library.  The new Library will combine both the Bartholomew Medical Library and School of Nursing Library catalogs, and will be open to the public.  Prior to moving the Library, we are automating the Library’s technical operations: cataloging; circulation; serials control using an integrated Library system.  Each of these operations is currently done manually.  Automation of the card catalog will allow for patrons to access our catalog from any PC and will allow for easier and less labor-intensive updating.  Automation of the circulation processes will allow for better tracking of circulated items, for improved report generation and for tracking of utilization patterns that will help in acquisitions.  A serials component will facilitate the checking in and claiming of journal subscriptions, indexing journal articles and linking to them, as well as hopefully tracking interlibrary loans.

Keydi Boss- Holy Name Hospital- Teaneck, NJ

The AECOM Library is in the midst of a major renovation.  An integral part of this project was the construction of five group study rooms.  Each of these rooms is equipped with a 42″ LCD monitor.  The rooms are available to all members of the AECOM community for student group projects, PhD dissertation defense, library training, presentations and meetings.  With funding from the NN/LM MAR Technology Improvement Award, the Library purchased three Dell Latitude D630 laptop computers, which can be borrowed from the Library’s Circulation Desk.  The laptops connect easily to the LCD monitors with a VGA cable.  They have been loaded with the following software: Microsoft Office 2003, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Internet Explorer, Firefox, SciFinder Scholar, QuickTime, RealPlayer, and Windows Media Player.  The AECOM Library’s laptop lending policy can be viewed at http://library.aecom.yu.edu/library/laptops.htm.  There is a record for the laptops in the Library’s catalog, which allows patrons to see if laptops are available for loan.

When laptops are returned, Circulation Desk staff will be able to restore them to their original configuration using Ghost 12.0 software (also purchased through the NN/LM MAR technology Improvement Award).  This will prevent system changes, viruses, and other “infelicities” from being passed on to future users.

The AECOM Graphic Arts Center designed special decals for us.  These decals are affixed to the tops of the laptops with an extremely strong adhesive.  The hope is that in addition to “branding,” the decals will serve as an additional theft deterrent.

The laptops will go into service in October as part of our celebration of National Medical Librarians Month.  Response from patrons who have helped test them has been positive.  Although many of our patrons own their own laptops, they do not always carry them.  They appreciate the option of borrowing one from the library.

The UPS Project

During the past four years the AECOM Library has experienced three major power outages.  The first was the blackout that affected the Northeast in August 2003.  The second, in March 2007, was due to an electrical fire in our building.  The third, in August 2007, was due to another fire in front of our building.  Because the Library’s web sever and EZproxy remote access server were not connected to a UPS (battery backup power supply), these electrical outages caused them to power off without going through the proper shutdown procedures.  Fortunately this did not lead to data loss or corruption.  AECOM faculty, students, staff and residents from our five affiliated hospitals use the Library’s web site and remote access system to connect to our electronic resources.  In order to protect our servers in the future, the electricity in the Library’s server room was switched to the emergency ground, so they will automatically receive power from the College’s emergency generators in the event of another power failure.  Because there could still be an interruption of power before the emergency generators kick in, the library used the NN/LM MAR Technology Award to purchase an APC Smart-UPS 1000XL backup battery supply.  The Smart-UPS 100XL will supply electricity to the Library’s servers during this gap.  Additional software was purchased to allow the servers to power down gracefully in the event that power is not restored.  this software has not yet been configured.

Nancy R. Glassman- D. Samuel Gottesman Library- Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Bronx, NY

Last January when the NN/LM technology grant applications were made available, I looked around at my library and knew we needed to upgrade.  The library had 4 PCs and 2 printers for the patrons, all situated in an open desk setting, no privacy, and no room and just not comfortable.

The problem is how does one begin?  Well, I guess the answer to that is read the directions.  I read and reread the grant application form, wrote a draft, re-wrote the draft, then I sat in my library and stared.  New computers would be grand but where would they go if we would have to reconfigure the library.  We will need furniture to put the additional PC’s on and along with new furniture we would need hard wiring to connect into the hospital network.  This was beginning to seem like an amazing task but I was determined to push ahead.

To get the ball rolling the first thing I did was to set up a meeting with our Chief Medical Officer, my Administrator, to discuss the need, finances and process of the library reorganization.  I outlined the need citing the increasing number of books, journals and knowledge-based web sites available online, requests of the library patrons for more computers, as well as HIPAA for privacy noting the closeness of the existing work areas.  Dr. Dhuper was very supportive and agreed with the need to modernize our library facility.  He suggested I contact finance to review the library budget, then to our Hospital Information Systems Dept, regarding the computer equipment and wiring; then to the VP of Materials Management for new furniture; basically organize a team.

The budget review was not as traumatic as anticipated because the previous librarian had the foresight to create a special library fund.  In this fund, all of the overdue fine monies; book sale monies and any financial gifts given to the library had been set aside.

Next I contacted our IS Dept, and told them what we would like to accomplish, how much money was potentially available through the grant and asked them to provide a quotation for the appropriate equipment and wiring.  My contact in the IS Dept. was very helpful and made sound recommendations, ultimately figuring we could order 5 new Pentium PC’s with all the trimmings and two printers.

Armed with the information, I contacted the VP of Materials Management.  He arranged a meeting with the vendor.  The furniture was costly, however; it will provide a comfortable, quiet, private working space.  Now the question, if the grant does not come through and I order the new furniture, I won’t have money for new computers.  After much deliberation I decided to proceed with the new furniture, worse come to worse we will set up the old computers in the carrels and at least provide a good working space for our patrons until finances become available to purchase new computers.  So, the decision was made, we ordered the furniture, contacted the engineering dept, regarding wiring and installation and kept our fingers crossed.

The final step was to complete the grant application, with all of the supporting documentation requested and wait.  The furniture arrived and was being assembled, when the great news came! We got the grant.  The PCs and printers were ordered ASAP… the boxes began to arrive.

Finally, all was set and now we are planning our ribbon cutting for Septmeber 25, 2007, in the meantime our libary patrons are thrilled.  We noted that the library is busier than prior to our update.  We are keeping a record and the number of PC users has substantially increased.  The noise level in the library is down in spite of the increase number of users; this was an unanticipated positive outcome.  We figure since the carrels provide more individual work space there is less conversation.

The success of our new set up is tremendous and has been met with much enthusiasm and gratitude. Our administration is so pleased with the outcome  they are considering increasing the number of carrels and changing the self-study room.  Many of the residents and medical students have made a special effort to say thank you to the library staff.  So now, the very last thing for me to do is say thank you, to the NN/LM for providing the inspiration and resources to start the project; to our Administrator for supporting the library and finally to all those who had a hand in the implementation of our reorganization.

Laraine Tursi- Harold Fink Memorial Library- Coney Island Hospital- Brooklyn, NY

On October 11, 2007, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) released a new search engine for MedlinePlus, MedlinePlus en español and the NLM Web site. NLM selected search engine software from the Pittsburgh-based company Vivisimo®. Vivisimo is also the current search solution for the www.usa.gov site (formerly FirstGov).

The new search results feature enhanced relevance rankings and bold-face search words in context to help you select the best Web document for your query. An integrated spell checker suggests alternative search terms and spelling corrections. The new search engine also expands queries using synonyms specific to the sites and medical synonyms from the NLM Unified Medical Language System®.

MedlinePlus Searches

The default display for MedlinePlus searches is a comprehensive list of “All Results” from all areas of the site. Users can also focus their search on one part of MedlinePlus by navigating to these individual collections of results:

• Health Topics
• External Health Links
• Drugs and Supplements
• Medical Encyclopedia
• News
• Other Resources

For MedlinePlus searches that retrieve one of the 700+ English language health topics, the relevant topic is spotlighted at the top of the screen with an image, an excerpt of the health topic summary and links to the topic.

Read more about the new search engine:

*New Site Search Engine Allows Easier, More Efficient Navigation of MedlinePlus and NLM Web Site

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/searchengine_vivisimo.html

*NLM Technical Bulletin, Sep-Oct 2007, NLM Launches New Web Search Engine: NLM Web Site, MedlinePlus, MedlinePlus Español

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so07/so07_nlm_search_engine.html

A technology award has enabled the Slotkin Memorial Library at Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Cherry Hill to purchase a ScanPro 300 microfiche scanner.

We now have access to many years of journal on microfiche.  While the Slotkin Memorial Library houses a variety of medical journals, our collection is unique with much of its collection focusing on behavioral health.

This award has enabled us to provide better service to our staff, as well as share our important collection with the libary community.

Francine Silverman- Barney A. Slotkin Memorial Library- Kennedy Memorial Hospital- Cherry Hill, NJ

St. Francis Medical Library truly needed two new printers for its Consumer Health Resource Center.  In June 2007 the NN/LM MAR honored our grant request for a Technology Improvement Award.  The two printers are utilized by the patients and community members that visit the library.  Now a patron can bring home a printed copy of information accessed on the computer.

In addition, patient education information from the NLM can be printed and distributed to the patient floors and waiting rooms.  The colored brochures increase the visibility and interest in the publications.  The printers are a great asset to our Consumer Health Center; we thank the Middle Atlantic Region for awarding us this much needed equipment.

Rosemary Figorito- St. Francis Hospital- Wilmington, DE

The University of California at Berkeley has posted a number of full course lectures on YouTube. There are currently over 300 hours of lectures and special events covering topics ranging from bioengineering, physics, chemistry, peace and conflict studies, and others.

Read more about it from ArsTechnica

The RML is pleased to announce the newest addition to our website: our new AV Lending Library.

You can now borrow from our collection of videos, DVDs, and CD-ROMs in order to keep up on everything from MLA’s last webcast or to learn more from “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians!”

Just follow this link to the online order form http://nnlm.gov/mar/services/lendrequest.html

We look forward to sharing these items with you!