As a way of gathering input to help with planning a future meeting on the issues surrounding access to electronic resources within our region, PSRML has begun to conduct a series of focus groups with librarians from our Primary Access Libraries (PALs). In an attempt to hear from people in all parts of the region, discussion groups have been planned in several locations.
Claire Hamasu and Beryl Glitz conducted the first session in Long Beach with several members of the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona. The group proved to be a lively one and provided some interesting insights into the concerns of librarians in smaller institutions that face significant challenges trying to provide sufficient and reliable Internet access for their users.
Beryl conducted a further session in late July with members from the Hawaii Pacific Chapter of the Medical Library Association. While expressing some similar concerns, librarians here discussed other challenges, some due to their geographical distance from the mainland and their need to reach users in remote areas.
More discussion groups are planned with members from Arizona, Nevada and Northern California, and we will be reporting the overall results from our combined discussions. We appreciate the time and the thoughtfulness of our colleagues. Their insight and ideas are always helpful in our planning, and it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to hear from them directly.