Partners, Creating the Future - PSRML at the Joint Meeting

by Beryl Glitz

Following the theme of the 1998 Joint Medical Library Association (MLA) Chapter Meeting, PSRML staff provided information and updates to conference attendees about recent activities with some of their many partners in the region: librarians from Primary Access Libraries (PALs), Resource Libraries (RLs), MLA chapters, and non-health sciences libraries; non-library organizations; and, the National Library of Medicine. Below are some of the highlights presented; please contact our office if you would like more details on any of these items.

PALs:

• PSRML is forming a small Study Group on Electronic Document Delivery to discuss some of the many issues facing libraries in today's complex, digital environment. The first issue to be addressed is the feasibility of using an electronic billing system for reimbursement for ILL charges within the region. Resource Libraries have expressed interest in such a system to simplify billing; other regions have developed systems which might serve as possible models. Members will be drawn from RLs, PALs, and MLA chapters.
• Outreach subcontracts - Pat Auflick from the Rural Health Office, University of Arizona, and Roger Brudnow from Goddard Memorial Library, Oroville Hospital, CA were awarded funding in 1997, through these subcontracts, to provide outreach to improve access to information for health professionals in rural areas. Pat and Roger described their experiences in writing a successful proposal and in carrying out their projects. They later were available at the PSRML booth to share details with interested network members. PSRML hopes to be able to offer similar subcontracts in year three of the contract which begins May 1, 1998.

Resource Libraries:

• The University of Arizona Health Sciences Library arranged the successful telemedicine conference, held the day before the joint meeting, which 150 people attended. [See separate article].
• PSRML is currently negotiating with the University of Nevada Savitt Medical Library for an Internet connectivity project in which the Library, in conjunction with the state's AHEC, will provide access and training in use of the Internet to three rural sites in the state.
• The Library and Center for Knowledge Management at the University of California San Francisco is currently conducting an evaluation of BioSites, the Web-based listing of valuable Internet resources in the biomedical sciences. The sites included in BioSites have been evaluated and selected by staff in all twelve Resource Libraries. UCSF is collecting and analyzing usage data, and has been surveying users for reactions to the site. As a second part of the evaluation, a group of representatives from each RL will be meeting in March to discuss BioSites from their viewpoint as contributors.

MLA Chapters:

For several years, PSRML has worked with both the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (MLGSCA) and the Northern California and Nevada Medical Library Group (NCNMLG) to sponsor programs as part of the Joint Meeting. This year the program featured a panel on consumer health information [See separate article]. In order to increase access to the information presented by the panel, speaker presentations will be mounted on the PSRML Web site. PSRML staff hope to continue this tradition by working with NCNMLG for a program or class at the next meeting, to be held in San Jose in February 1999.

Non-Health Sciences Libraries:

As part of our outreach activities, PSRML staff often work with non-health sciences libraries in order to facilitate information access to health providers in various parts of the region, especially areas which have no local hospital or medical center library. Several of these libraries, primarily in community colleges, are in fact Network members since they serve health sciences students or providers as part of their primary user groups. On a larger scale, PSRML has been involved in statewide efforts, within California, to expand access to health information by working with all types of libraries, through our involvement with the Library of California initiative, an evolving multitype library network. PSRML staff have served on a variety of committees and task forces to further the goals and programs of this emerging network. One such program is the California Statewide Serials Project which will link serials holdings from three databases: CULP (primarily public libraries); CALLS (academic libraries) and a subset of SERHOLD including holdings of participating California DOCLINE libraries. Eligible libraries in the state will be contacted soon with further details of how they can participate in this project. For details, see the article on page 6.

Non-Library partners:

A new partnership has been developed with the California Department of Health Services to provide training in the use of the Internet to staff in thirteen rural California counties. The TelePH Project (Tele-Education in Public Health) is an experiment in using video teleconferencing to train public health nurses to search the Internet (see Latitudes vol. 6, no. 6, November/December 1997, for further details).

The National Library of Medicine:

As our "ultimate" partner, NLM provides the funding and direction for all PSRML programs and services. PSRML was happy to have Becky Lyon, Head of the National Network office and Karen Hajarian, Director, MEDLARS Promotion, at the meeting, representing NLM.

News for our Network Partners:

Information on a number of ongoing programs and services was provided as part of the PSRML update. Highlights are included below.

• The deadline for updating SERHOLD records, is May 31, 1998; after that date an annual tape of regional holdings will be ordered from NLM. Since DOCLINE routing is dependent on the quality of serials holdings, it's important that libraries keep theirs accurate. A March mailing to all eligible libraries will include online updating instructions as well as a list of individuals willing to update records for other institutions, and contact information for Area SERHOLD Coordinators.
• A new Network Membership directoryis being designed; samples of two possible formats were made available at the PSRML booth for comments.
• PSRML is working with the MLA chapters to produce their union lists; a regional format has been formalized and lists will be produced later in February. Libraries wishing to order a copy of their list should contact the appropriate chapter officer.
• PSRML has been developing an updated registry of consultants who are willing to work with health professionals, librarians, and other individuals who call PSRML for assistance with a variety of library and information concerns. Those who register are not obligated to accept consulting assignments and are free to set their own fee schedule. These are negotiated on an individual basis with the person requesting assistance. Initial response to the PSRML registry questionnaire was low. For those willing to act as a consultant, forms are available from PSRML and a copy is included in this issue of Latitudes.
• Changes to the MEDLINE search interface - After the June 1997 announcement by NLM concerning free access through Internet Grateful Med (IGM) and PubMed to MEDLINE and other NLM databases, the library scheduled the final Fundamentals of MEDLINE searching classes. A new series of classes was planned for 1998, to teach librarians how to use IGM and PubMed to do mediated searching. In a related move, in January 1998, Donald Lindberg confirmed that the Elhill search system would have to be replaced, as NLM moves all its databases from a mainframe to a client-server environment. Dr. Lindberg's message was sent in part to reassure librarians that NLM is committed to having an "acceptable command language replacement" before Elhill disappears. He also asked for feedback from health sciences librarians, to be sent to NLM, on the performance and functional requirements of the replacement system. Two weeks ago NLM released a new version of PubMed that includes features specifically geared for those who do mediated searching. PSRML encourages all searches to try the new system and send their comments either to NLM or to PSRML to forward them, so that the new interface will take advantage of the new capabilities of the Web yet retain the best of the old system, Elhill.
• To introduce librarians to IGM & PubMed, the online training center is conducting transition classes across the country. Due to the overwhelming interest of librarians to the classes offered in Los Angeles, additional classes have been scheduled and trainers will be teaching at PSRML for a whole week, starting March 16. In October the trainers will be in Tucson for a class. The Transition class, created for Elhill searchers, is a one day free class. For new searchers there is a two-day class to be taught in Los Angeles and Tucson. See Latitudes v. 6, no. 6, Nov/Dec 1997 for class details and schedule for 1998.
• In response to demand from the region, the RML has been teaching a 2.5 hour class covering the essentials of IGM & PubMed for command language searchers. We have been targeting areas where the National Online Trainers will not be teaching and where it would mean some expense to attend either the classes in Los Angeles or Tucson. Classes have been held in Hawaii, Reno NV, San Francisco and Sacramento in Northern California. A class for Las Vegas NV is being scheduled. If you are interested in having a workshop scheduled in your area, please contact Claire Hamasu at PSRML.
• Once individuals have been trained to use IGM and PubMed, or for those of you already familiar with the two interfaces, who would like to teach others to search using IGM or PubMed, we would be interested in adding your name to the PSRML consultant's registry (form available on pages 13-14) so that we may use your name as a referral. We frequently get calls from health professionals, individuals and groups, looking for instructors.
• To keep up with all PSRML, NLM, and other NN/LM activities, and to provide us with feedback, individuals in Network member libraries are encouraged to sign-up on the PSRML electronic listserv. Contact our office with your name, institution, phone number and e-mail address, and we will add you to the list.

Latitudes, March/April, 1998 -- Vol. 7, Number 2