In addition to our blog series on library advocacy, NN/LM SE/A is celebrating National Medical Librarians Month (NMLM) by giving away 100 of MLA’s “Medical Librarians: Your Ultimate Search Engine” posters. These great posters (sold on the MLA site for $15) are suitable for framing and will be shipped in a tube to avoid creases. We will honor orders at one per library until all are gone. Please submit your request, using our online request form at: http://www.nnlm.gov/sea/feedback/poster/

Date:  August 15th, 2012

Time:  Noon to 1:00 pm (EST)

Presenter: Judy Burnham

Judy Burnham has been with the University of South Alabama since 1989, where she was named Director in 2007.  She has worked in reference, instructional services, technical services and outreach, and is liaison to the College of Allied Health Professionals. Judy was a NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellow from 2004-2005 and was recipient in 2001 of the Southern Chapter/Medical Library Association Academic Librarian of the Year Award. In 2002, she was the MLA Estelle Brodman Academic Medical Librarian of the Year. Her research interest is in bibliometrics. In addition to the project with health ministry leaders, Judy has participated for several years in instructional sessions on library literacy skills for minority high school students interested in health care careers. However, one of her favorite roles is grandmother to four outstanding grandchildren.

Presentation: Empowering Health Ministry Leaders

This presentation will focus on the SE/A NNLM funded project that provided health ministry leaders in ten African American churches with the technology, equipment and information needed to help them better serve the health information needs of their congregations.

Please click on the link below to hear the recorded presentation:

https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p21175112/

 ”Our greatest impact is achieved when we are flexible enough to adapt our programs to meet real, articulated needs.”

Judith Rogers
Manager, Learning Resources & Faculty Technology Services
University of the Virgin Islands
St. Thomas & St. Croix, USVI

What is your position?

Manager, Learning Resources & Faculty Technology Services – meaning: manager for University Libraries (both campuses of UVI), and faculty support for the learning environment.

Is there something in your own personal story that led you to do the work you do?

There are three major events that have led to what I do:

1. I began my affiliation with the libraries as a paraprofessional in the Greenblatt Library, Medical College of Georgia (MCG). Through this association, I became affiliated with the Medical Library Association, through which I was awarded a scholarship to complete my MLS degree. The attainment of the MLS degree equipped me to return to the U. S. Virgin Islands and take up a professional position at the University of the Virgin Islands Library (UVI) Library on St. Croix Campus
2. With my medical library experience at MCG and knowledge of the NN/LM programming, I reached out to the Juan Luis Hospital (JLH) librarian for partnership in a grant to educate health professionals throughout the Territory about Medline and other NLM resources. At the time, St. Thomas and St. John did not have access to a medical library locally. We introduced participants to Grateful Med, and successfully promoted the JLH Hospital and UVI libraries to meet some of their information needs.
3. My appointment as the UVI campus librarian opened up several opportunities to grow the library programs through closer collaboration with faculty at UVI. One such opportunity was in chairing an ad hoc committee for faculty development. Through leadership in this position, we established faculty resource centers that are still sustained today through the Libraries as Centers for Excellence in Teaching & Learning.

What do you love most about your outreach work?

I enjoy seeing participants develop an awareness of the vast resources freely available through the NLM and NN/LM SE/A. When you are immersed in the profession, it is easy to assume that information about these resources is being communicated effectively simply because announcements have been made here or there. It is so important to promote our programs actively and continuously using a wide variety of media. Otherwise, folks simply don’t get it!

What is the biggest challenge in what you do?

Developing professional staff who “buy-in” to the vision that effective promoting, teaching and program outreach is very necessary for succession planning. But, that is also our major challenge. In the environment of Internet and social media, some may feel that human interaction for outreach and communicating the value of the profession is diminished. In fact, it is even more important for ensuring that libraries get attention as dynamic entities that meet communities where they are, and provide solutions for their critical needs of daily living.

What has been the most fulfilling part of your work in terms of health outreach to your community’s underserved populations?

Outreach to Juan Luis Hospital and health professionals, including UVI faculty and students, amazingly, continues to produce dividends for the UVI library programs. The library’s strong partnership with the UVI School of Nursing actually grew out of the JLH project, and continues to be strengthened through our outreach to health professionals in the community. I believe the School of Nursing sees us as genuine partners with them in developing students to be effective and nurturing caregivers in the community

What do you see as the biggest health concerns in the communities you serve?

Asthma cases are extremely prevalent here. I’ve experienced this first hand with two members of my own family. Infants, young children and the elderly particularly are impacted. HIV-AIDS and hypertension issues are probably the second and third major concerns.

How did you first come to know NN/LM SE/A?

I learned about NN/LM SE/A as an employee at the Greenblatt Library, MCG. I became more aware of the programs through the visits of various SE/A outreach coordinators who have embraced the USVI since the early 1990’s.

In what ways has NN/LM SE/A been of help to you?

Outreach from SE/A for training and funding opportunities has been especially helpful. In 2010-11, UVI participated in another NN/LM SE/A funded project to provide training for community healthcare professionals and lay persons. In addition to the success with project participants, the activity brought an added dimension to the UVI programs through the services of an additional staff member, and promotion of the library within the community.

Can you share a success story about the impact of health outreach in your community?

In the early 1990’s I was contacted by a physician on St. Thomas as a follow-up to the health information outreach training conducted there. She became quite proficient in locating articles to support her work and used my library as a supplier for the full-text of articles. Although the St. Thomas Hospital had since established a mechanism for supporting physicians there, our relationship continued for over 10 years until she passed away a couple years ago. She often expressed that the benefit of friendly service and understanding towards her needs was worth reaching out across the water when she needed help.

What advice would you give others who are interested in doing health outreach work in their communities?

1. Ask your contacts in the community to identify their needs and look for ways to match your ideas/resources with solutions to meet those needs. Our greatest impact is achieved when we are flexible enough to adapt our programs to meet real, articulated needs.
2.  Be prepared to have back-up plans for every activity.
3. Don’t give up, even if the response is weak in the beginning. Health outreach enhances the quality of life in the community and, by association, the work that we do.

For more information, please contact Nancy Patterson (npatters@hshsl.umaryland.edu).

Jan Orick
Director, Biomedical Library
St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital
Memphis, TN

How long have you been a librarian?

I received my masters in 1989 from LSU. Prior to that, I worked in libraries in high school and during my undergraduate and graduate degrees, and as a Library Assistant at the Memphis Public Library before going to library school.

How long have you been at St. Jude/in your current position?

I have been at St. Jude since 1995, Director since 1998

What made you decide to be a librarian?

I am embarrassed to tell this, but I cataloged my private book collection, including pockets, cards, and catalog cards (recipe file box), when I was 11. I guess it was my calling! I have just always worked in a library of one form or another – except for a couple of summers at Wendy’s and one summer as a file clerk for the County Courts.

What do you consider your biggest work related challenge?

Balancing what people want and what my budget allows. This is especially difficult now with electronic resources. Everyone wants instant access.

What do you consider to be the most fulfilling part of your job?

I like providing information to our users. It feels good to find the answer that helps with patient care or research.

What do you see as the biggest concerns in hospital and/or health sciences librarianship?

Electronic journals are resulting in fewer hospital libraries, as Administrators have no idea how much behind the scenes work it takes to make access seamless! The library staff has to get out of the library and go where their users are. We can no longer sit in the library and wait for people to come to us.

How did you first come to know NN/LM SE/A?

I learned about NN/LM SE/A at a Southern Chapter meeting.

In what ways has NN/LM SE/A been of help to you?

I am grateful for the assistance with Docline and the availability of classes for CE.

Will you share a success story about your library?

During National Library Week, one of our patrons was telling me how they remembered that when I was interviewed for the Director’s job, I described this vision of an electronic library! Now, 15 years later the conversion to electronic journals continues to impact our institution. Now everything is at the users’ fingertips when it is needed. This improves research and patient care, as there’s no waiting to get the information they need. There are more downloads now because we have access to more journals. We had 400 print journals; we now have 4000 online journals that we keep track of.  We converted to electronic resources so seamlessly they all think it’s free – getting rid of print was hard, but I simply didn’t have a choice. And, with the transition from print to electronic, we managed to keep all of our positions. We re-trained staff to manage electronic journals so we didn’t lose anyone.

What advice would you give others who are interested in being a hospital and/or health sciences librarian?

My advice is to not expect to stay in the library and be successful. Fighting to get people into the library, onto the library website, and away from Google is hopeless: it just won’t happen. You have to get out of the library and go where your users are. Provide access where they want it, how they wish to use it, and make it all as easy as possible for them. Be prepared to do anything: provide the services they want no matter what they are, even if it’s just making photocopies. You can’t pick and choose what you want to do, especially in medical and health sciences libraries. Also, taking on the NIH public access policy is a really good idea. People call and are thrilled I am here to help with their submissions and getting the PMC numbers and tracking the process. Provide a full service library with whatever you’re given, and you’ll be successful. I pick my battles. If it’s coming from the boss, you can’t really argue. Try to find a way to make it work for your library and your patrons.

For more information, please contact Sheila Snow-Croft – ssnowcro@hshsl.umaryland.edu

We’ve added 12 new books to the SE/A Professional Development Library:

• Hernon, Peter. Assessing service quality: satisfying the expectations of library customers /Peter Hernon and Ellen Altman. 2nd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 2010.
• Crawford, Walt .Open access: what you need to know now. Chicago: American Library Association, 2011.
• Kern, M. Kathleen. Virtual reference best practices: tailoring services to your library. Chicago: American Library Association, 2009.
• Barber, Peggy and Wallace, Linda. Building a buzz: libraries & word-of-mouth marketing. Chicago: American Library Association, 2010.
• The library PR handbook: high-impact communications /edited by Mark R. Gould. Chicago: American Library Association, 2009.
• Bite-sized marketing : realistic solutions for the overworked librarian /Nancy Dowd, Mary Evangeliste and Jonathan Silberman. Chicago: American Library Association, 2010.
• Landau, Herbert B. Winning library grants: a game plan. Chicago: American Library Association, 2011.
• Kane, Laura Townsend. Working in the virtual stacks :the new library & information science. Chicago: American Library Association, 2011.
• Pre- & post- retirement tips for librarians /edited by Carol Smallwood. Chicago: American Library Association, 2012.
• Doucett, Elisabeth. Creating your library brand: communicating your relevance and value to your patrons. Chicago: American Library Association, 2008.
• Harris, Lesley Ellen. Licensing digital content: a practical guide for librarians. 2nd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 2009.
• The ALA book of library grant money /edited by Ann Kepler. 8th ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 2012. (2 copies available)

As always, borrowing these books is free. For instruction on borrowing these items and a list of all titles, please visit our Professional Development Library page at: http://nnlm.gov/sea/services/professionaldevelopmentlibrary.html