MLA Teleconference
Roles and Essential Skills for the Expert Searcher
"One day when I was working at the Epilepsy Foundation, a parent of a high school student called the library. The family had been told that the student, who was heading to college on a football scholarship, had epilepsy. If this diagnosis were true, he wouldn't be able to play football, would lose his scholarship, and for financial reasons not be able to attend college. I interviewed the family for more information and conducted a PubMed search. I found articles on Kleine-Levin Syndrome, a self-limiting disease that typically disappears by early adulthood. Armed with new information, the family sought another opinion. The student in fact had Kleine-Levin Syndrome; he was able to play football, keep the scholarship, and go to college. I got a thank you letter signed by him and his parents."
Russell Smith, M.L.S.
Expert Searcher
What would you have done if you had gotten this request? Are you an expert searcher? Would you like to find out more about expert searching? The Medical Library Association is offering a teleconference, "Roles and Essential Skills for the Expert Searcher", on Wednesday, March 10, 2004. The teleconference will take place from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm Pacific Time; most sites will have wrap-around sessions before and after the teleconference. PSRML is sponsoring a number of sites in the Pacific Southwest Region; a list of sites is included at the end of this article.
The goals of this teleconference are to give attendees an overview of the basic concepts of expert searching, to explore the issues involved in developing and retaining expert skills, and to promote expert search services as an important means of institutional support. Additionally, the teleconference serves as an introduction to the MLA Policy Statement: Role of Expert Searching in Health Sciences Libraries. The teleconference speakers recommend reading this policy statement before the March 10 event.
At the end of this teleconference, attendees will be able to:
- Define the concepts of expert searching and expert searchers
- Identify and describe the various components of the expert search process
- Identify and describe situations in which the knowledge and skills of expert searchers are essential
- Cite "high impact areas" in which consultation with an expert searcher and the provision of an expert search are critical to institutional decision-making
- Explore avenues by which health information professionals/health sciences librarians may become and remain expert searchers
Participants will receive 2.0 MLA Continuing Education contact hours for the teleconference alone or 3.5 contact hours if wrap-around sessions are included.
PSRML will circulate a VHS copy of the proceedings following the teleconference. If you are unable to attend the conference, you can request a loan from PSRML's web site at Videocassettes, CD-ROMs, DVDs and Literature Available for Loan page.
More information about the teleconference and about expert searching is available on the MLA Expert Searching page.
Teleconference Sites in the Pacific Southwest Region
Arizona - Maricopa County
Maricopa Integrated Health System
Room Location: Administration Building, Auditorium 1
2601 E Roosevelt Street
Phoenix, AZ 85008
http://www.maricopa.gov/medcenter/
Parking: Free
Maximum People: 25
Site Coordinator Name: Rebecca Birr
Phone: 602-344-5197
Email: rebecca.birr@hcs.maricopa.gov
Arizona - Pima County
University of Arizona
Arizona Health Sciences Library
Room Location: 2102
1501 N Campbell Ave
Tucson, AZ 85724
Online Registration: http://www.ahsl.arizona.edu/classes/AHSL-classes.cfm
Parking: $3.00-9.00
Maximum People: 125
Site Coordinator: Mikel Bates
Phone: 520-626-8087
Email: batesm@ahsl.arizona.edu
California - Alameda County
Kaiser Permanente
Care Management Institute
Room Location: 16th Floor, B
1 Kaiser Plaza
Oakland, CA 94612
http://www.kpcmi.org
Parking: $6.00-15.00
Maximum People: 30
Site Coordinator: Sara Pimentel
Phone: 510-271-2360
Email: sara.pimental@kp.org
California - Los Angeles County
USC Health Sciences Campus
Norris Medical Library
Room Location: Conference Room
2003 Zonal Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90089
http://www.usc.edu/nml
Parking: $6.00
Luncheon: $10.00 (optional)
Maximum People: 40
Site Coordinator: Christina Mayberry
Phone: 323-442-1972
Email: christina.mayberry@usc.edu
Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Bellflower (sponsored by MLGSCA)
Room Location: Tall Hospital Tower, Large Conference Rooms: BH01, BH02
9400 East Rosecrans Avenue
Bellflower, CA 90706
Parking: Free
Lunch: $6.00 (optional)
Site Coordinator: Pam Lee
Phone: 562-461-4938
Email: Pam.X.Lee@kp.org
California - San Bernardino County
Loma Linda University
Del E. Webb Memorial Library-Faculty Reading Room
11072 Anderson Street
Loma Linda, CA 92350-0001
http://www.llu.edu/llu/index.html
Parking: Free
Luncheon Cost: $10.00 (optional)
Maximum People: 25
Site Coordinator: Laura Brown
Email: ldbrown@llu.edu
Phone: 909-558-4550
California - San Diego County
University of California, San Diego
Biomedical/Medical Center Libraries
Room Location: North Conference Room/Old Student Center
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0175
http://gort.ucsd.edu/clinlib
Parking: $6.00 (campus)
Maximum People: 40
Site Coordinator: Craig Haynes
Email: craig@library.ucsd.edu
Phone: 619-543-6520
California - Santa Clara County
Stanford University Medical School
Lane Medical Library
300 Pasteur Drive
Room L - 109
Stanford, CA 94305-5123
http://lane.stanford.edu/index.html
Parking: $3.00-12.00
Site Coordinator: Pam Murnane
Phone: 650-723-5971
Email: pam.murnane@stanford.edu
Hawaii
Hawaii Medical Library
Room Location: Queen's Conference Center - 2nd floor
1221 Punchbowl Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
http://hml.org/hpcmla/events.html
Parking: $3.00
Maximum People: 40
Event Coordinator: Alice Witkowski
Phone: 808-536-9302 ext 103
Email: witkowski@hml.org