I have a new sister! No, my parents have not surprised me with any news. My new sister is a sister library, specifically the Kim Barrett Memorial Library at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. In mid April, having been giving an award through the NN/LM NER sister library program, I went to New York for two days to meet my new sister. In choosing a sister (I bet that there are many out there that might like this option with real siblings), I wanted to choose carefully. The award called for the sister institution to be in our New England region but my library, the Paul E. Woodard Health Sciences Library at the New England Baptist Hospital, is a musculoskeletal specialty library and I wanted to work with a library that shared a similar focus. As the Hospital for Special Surgery and New England Baptist often show up on many "top orthopedic specialty hospitals" lists, I decided that this was the sister for me.

In planning my visit, I wanted to explore two different areas from which I could gather ideas and bring them back to my library. The first, of course, was the operation of the library itself and the second was their patient education programming. Later this year, I will be opening a Patient and Family Resource Room as part of my library and in doing so, will be putting together the first orthopedic specialty consumer health program in New England. I was hopeful that I could learn something that could help me to ply these uncharted waters.

I first visited the library and became quick friends with Inga Zhygalo, the librarian at the Barrett Library. We discussed many standard issues that all small libraries with limited personnel face such as the ability to be the reference, serials, collection development, interlibrary loan and systems librarian all at the same time. We also discussed our collections and traded information about the types of resources, print and electronic, that our unique set of patrons was looking for. I learned from Inga and she learned from me and we now both have an expanded point of view of the different possibilities available to us as we continue to plan and implement our services. I also learned that both of our libraries are in the small minority that have been named after their former librarians! The following day, I visited with one of the directors of the patient education program at Hospital for Special Surgery. In meeting with her, I learned not only of the many print and electronic resources they have in place for their patients but the many classes they offer both at the Hospital and in other areas of the New York community. I was invited to attend a yoga class at their midtown education center later that afternoon but time would not allow. I left New York armed with examples of many resources, lots of notes and fond memories of a new friendship.

Within the scope of our work, we belong to many different resource sharing and networking groups. Through these groups, we have set up reciprocal document delivery initiatives and gather at local, regional and national meetings to catch up and learn from one another. What we never seem to have the time to do, though, is visit each other in our own libraries. Only in this way can we observe concrete examples of what we are all doing in our own ways to provide better service to our patrons. Some of the tips I learned in New York I have been able to put in to practice at my library and other things just will not work within the culture that is unique to my institution. But in making this visit, I learned more than I ever could have sitting in my library, reading a journal article or in meeting Inga at a conference.

I would invite each of you, regardless of the size of your library, to explore NER's sister library program and to add a new sibling to your life.

Len Levin, New England Baptist Hospital