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The design and implementation of an experimental MEDLINE module at Case Western Reserve University School of Library Science is described. The module places MEDLINE within the context of multiple data bases and networking operations andis embedded in a course in health science communications. The module consists of eight weeks of lectures, demonstrations, videotapes, and exercises on terminals.
The Health Science Library at University of Tennessee (UT), Memphis has taken advantage of a campuswide network for the purpose of providing enhanced access to library services. With a terminal or microcomputer, members of the UT Memphis community can use an electronic menu system to complete photocopy, interlibrary loan, and computer literature search request forms; leave messages or sign up for library workshops; use electronic mail to receive citations and abstracts from computer literature searches; use an electronic bulletin board to scan the library's new acquisitions lists, library hours, services, and policies; and use bibliographic retrieval software to search the library's locally mounted databases. Remote access to library services and electronic resources, which is available twenty-four hours a day, could potentially save users time and the institution money. Remote access, however, is intended to supplement, not to supplant or discourage, in-house library use.
The classic function of health sciences libraries is to build and maintain a knowledge base and to provide timely access to that collective memory for the purpose of learning, teaching, caring for patients, conducting research or managing an organization. The formats and representation of that knowledge base are changing rapidly, as are the methods and techniques for gaining access to information. Medical libraries have long used computers for cataloging and controlling records but are now shifting to acquiring, managing and distributing bibliographic and full-text information to local library "networks."
The hospital health sciences library of today that reaches out to the world knowledge base through electronic networks bears little resemblance to its forebears. Yet to understand the challenges and future directions of the hospital library it is necessary to examine how it began and how it has evolved in more than 200 years. This paper identifies five developmental periods in which major strides were made: the colonial years through the 19th century; World War I to the Great Depression; World War II and the 1950s; the 1960s--the Great Society and the Medical Library Assistance Act; and the 1970s, an era of growth for hospital libraries.
Physicians practicing outside of Alabama's urban medical centers often have difficulty obtaining medical information for patient care. This article describes how Alabama's rural physicians may gain access to the biomedical literature needed for patient care using personal collections, communications technology, and libraries. A table in the paper lists health sciences libraries in the state which may provide consultative and information services.
Hospital health sciences libraries represent, for the vast majority of health professionals, the most accessible source for library information and services. Most health professionals do not have available the specialized services of a clinical medical librarian, and rely instead upon general information services for their case-related information needs. The ability of the hospital library to meet these needs and the impact of the information on quality patient care have not been previously examined. A study was conducted in eight hospitals in the Chicago area as a quality assurance project. A total of 176 physicians, nurses, and other health professionals requested information from their hospital libraries related to a current case or clinical situation. They then assessed the quality of information received, its cognitive value, its contribution to patient care, and its impact on case management. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents asserted that they would definitely or probably handle their cases differently as a result of the information provided by the library. Almost all rated the libraries' performance and response highly. An overview of the context and purpose of the study, its methods, selected results, limitations, and conclusions are presented here, as is a review of selected earlier research.
Although historically a major concern of both the artist and the scientist was the observation of nature, the two disciplines split when science became more wedded to mathematics and quantification. Today, with visualization, art and science can again together provide a view of the natural world. A prototype curriculum for a new multidisciplinary science--Health Information Science--incorporates aspects of computer science, cognitive psychology, bioengineering, biomedical visualization, medicine, dentistry, anthropology, mathematics, library science, and the visual arts.
The nature of the fiscal crisis in health science libraries in the United States is in part due to the style of management in these libraries, in part due to the lack of user identification, in part due to the lack of economically valid fees for service, and in part due to the success of the Biomedical Communications Network. These issues are discussed in terms of how they might be approached. A pragmatic stance is advocated for practitioners, the MLA, the NLM, and library schools to jointly address the questions raised.
A review of the planning process for personnel at the University of Cincinnati's new Health Sciences Library is discussed. The staff of two libraries were involved in the plan. The final organizational pattern encompassed present staff plus justification for additional staff who would be necessary in the expanded facility.
A uniform graphical user interface to informational databases is evolving at the University of Washington through a collaborative development process. The interface, called WILLOW, has grown from model analysis and preliminary design to working prototype. The design replicates a natural flow of search retrieval. Development continues in a spiral of test and linear improvements based on user analysis. WILLOW's internal structure is built on a Unix client-server model communicating over the campus TCP/IP backbone network. Its external structure is an X-Windows/Motif visual presentation emphasizing a simple, consistent, graphical face to disparate information databases. The WILLOW collaborators have grown from an initial group composed of the Health Sciences Library & Information Center and Computing & Communications' Information Systems to the University Libraries, Computing & Communications divisions, Medical Center Information Systems, and departments throughout the health sciences.
Within the framework of large regional and national networks, local libraries can benefit by working together. We report the establishment of an online health sciences library network to share resources and technical support in the greater St. Louis area. BACS/PHILNET has evolved beyond a local automated interlibrary loan network to pilot off-site integrated library and information management systems in hospitals.
A brief history of the first Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Library Program in California is presented, with a description of methodology and results. The goals of this program were to develop and improve hospital library resources and services, to train hospital library personnel, and to promote resource sharing in a medically underserved area. The health sciences library consortium that evolved became a model for the ten other library consortia in the state. Based on AHEC's twelve years' experience with consortia, from 1973 to 1985, recommendations are made as to size, composition, leadership, outside funding, group participation, publicity, and linkages.
Sound management data are needed to evaluate the collections of health sciences libraries. This study reports the utilization of computer data bases to compare the libary collections of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The University of Texas Medical Branch, and the National Library of Medicine's CATLINE data base. The imprint dates of the records of two libraries are compared to measure acquisitions rates. Subject profiles for the Q and W classes demonstrate the similarity of the collections. Reasons for the variances are considered.
The Hospital Library Services Program (HLSP) in western New York, during the period covered by its first five-year plan, 1984-1989, is recounted and described. This ongoing program is funded annually by a New York State grant and hospital participation fees. It is designed to support access to biomedical information for health care professionals through a grant program for hospitals with staffed libraries and a circuit program for hospitals without library staffing or without libraries. Hospitals participating in the grant program contribute funds and receive grants for collection development. Hospitals participating in the circuit program pay a participation fee and receive regularly scheduled, documented, circuit librarian visits; a collection development grant; and a grant for contract library services. The program contracts with the State University of New York at Buffalo's (UB) Health Sciences Library to provide computerized literature searches; interlibrary loan (ILL) of journal articles, books, and audiovisuals; and ILL referrals.
This subject list of 109 dental books and 20 dental journals is intended to help the dental book committee and the librarian of a small health sciences library achieve a balanced collection of dental books and journals. Cost of books totals $2,180.00, that of journals is $571,00, making a total of $2,751.00. Cost of starred books totals $927.30, that of starred journals is $109.50, making a total of $1,036.80.
Development and implementation of the Biocommunications Network in the Memphis region have relied on sharing of resources among hospital libraries. Implied in this system is the recognition that all health care professionals have a right of access to health sciences libraries.
Access to health care machine-readable data files (MRDF) is becoming increasingly important to students and researchers in the health care field who use the data in secondary analysis. Health sciences libraries must play a role in providing such access, and this role should consist primarily in providing users with information about the identity and contents of available MRDF and about how they may be obtained. Libraries should therefore collect extensive materials containing information about the MRDF that may be of interest to their users. Many such materials are available in print, and their quality may be expected to improve as newly developed methods and procedures for constructing bibliographic citations, abstracts, and catalog entries for MRDF are put into practice. Also, it is now feasible to incorporate data file abstracts into existing online bibliographic databases.
A comparison of the MEDLARS data base as it is currently available from the National Library of Medicine and Bibliographic Retrieval Services (BRS), Inc., is presented in chart format, and some major capability differences between the two systems are highlighted. The information inlcuded justifies the dual availability of the data base in health sciences libraries. This paper is intended for searchers and others familiar with one or both systems. Administrators considering the acquisition of the BRS system may find the study useful.