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August 31, 2005
Director's Report - August, 2005
By Evelyn B. Morgen, MSLS, AHIP
Director, Lyman Maynard Stowe Library
This is an ideal time to be the new director of the Lyman Maynard Stowe Library, and I am honored to have this opportunity. Dr. Ralph Arcari left the library in excellent condition. We have just successfully completed a major library renovation that creates an attractive, comfortable and welcoming learning environment. We have an experienced staff poised to accept new challenges. Use of the library – both virtually and in person – is growing significantly. Access to our e-resources topped 900,000 in FY05 – the highest number in the history of the library. One of my first goals is to meet with as many people as possible to hear your assessments of the strengths and challenges for the library and the services we provide. What would you like to see us do differently? What shouldn’t be changed? How can we serve the research, clinical, educational, and public components of UCHC more directly? I look forward to hearing your answers. Meanwhile, here are some recent news items.
Ask a Librarian Page
To make it easier for you to contact us directly, we have added an “Ask a Librarian” button to the top of our home page. You can use this form to send us an email question, to schedule a consultation with a librarian, or to see when we’re at the reference desk.
Retirement of Ralph Arcari, Library Director
The Library hosted a gala farewell party for Dr. Ralph Arcari on June 30th, 2005 to honor his retirement. 200 people attended including librarians from Maine to Maryland and UCHC staff. Entertainment was provided by Len Paplauskas’ band “Seizure”, and remarks were made by faculty and peers. Ralph will continue to teach his History of Medicine class. A plaque honoring Dr Arcari’s 30 years as library director is mounted in the library.
Library Renovation Completed
The library renovation was dedicated on May 13, 2005, and has been very successful. Our study areas and computers have been busy all summer long, and we hear many compliments about the attractive environment and the increased technology available. Reading tables and carrels have secure wireless and cable access to our electronic resources for people with UCHC logon privileges. Our public computers are available to everyone using the library including the general public.
School of Medicine PDA Initiative
The School of Medicine’s class of 2007 is the second class required to purchase handheld computers as they begin their third year. The library has played a key role by purchasing databases they can download, helping to teach students and faculty to use PDAs, and providing support to students. The databases we purchased include InfoRetriever, and LexiDrugs. We also recommend two free programs – Shots 2005 with immunization tables, and Archimedes, a clinical calculator database from Skyscape. Our PDA Resources page provides more detailed descriptions and instructions. http://library.uchc.edu/pda/ The Computer Education Center has a PDA Syncing station students can use if they are unable to download programs from their home. In addition, library staff helped create tutorials for the students with step-by-step answers to specific clinical cases.
Library Resources
One of our major challenges is to choose resources that best meet your needs in a manner that is proactive and yet fiscally responsible. Toward that end, we are asking you to help us choose a database that will provide excellent clinical support to our students, residents, fellows, and community faculty when they are off-campus. The news item about databases trials explains this issue in more detail. Please use our new “Ask a Librarian” page to email us your comments.
EBM
30 August 2005
Posted by Robert at August 31, 2005 11:01 AM