Title: Librarian-Faculty Collaboration to Provide Early Integration of Information Literacy in a New Medical School Curriculum

Authors: Theresa S. Arndt, MLS, Head of Outreach Services, Taubman Medical Library Patricia W. Martin, MA, AMLS, Head of End-User Electronic Systems, Taubman Medical Library Gurpreet K. Rana, MLIS, Clinical Librarian, Taubman Medical Library Rajesh S. Mangrulkar, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine University of Michigan

Objectives: In Fall 2003 librarians worked closely with the coordinator of a required M1 biostatistics/medical decision-making component to integrate information literacy and evidence-based medicine content into the new curriculum. Objectives included introducing a broad range of information resources, emphasizing the role of clinical research in patient care, and fostering critical thinking skills.

Methods: Librarians and medical faculty designed and team taught two different classes. Classes built on activities and information from other course components, and were linked by a homework assignment. Instructional techniques included mini-lectures to introduce resources, guided discussion, and hands-on exercises. During the first class students collectively generated a list of clinical questions based on a real patient encounter which occurred earlier in the course. A librarian selected one of these questions and immediately guided the group through translating it into a PubMed literature search strategy. The students' homework was to research a question from class in a variety of databases and online textbooks, and compare and contrast the information tools. At the second class, students shared the results of their homework, and instructors addressed questions on the various information resources and reinforced formulation of effective database search strategies.

Results & Conclusion: Student evaluations for sessions were very positive. Students indicated that they felt the sessions were well-integrated into the course. The sessions are expected to become a regular feature of the new curriculum.

Title:“A Multitype Library Virtual Reference Consortium: The Governors State University Library Experience with MyWebLibrarian”

Author:Professor Paul Blobaum, Health Science Librarian and Distance Education Librarian Governors State University

The Governors State University Library initiated an innovative Virtual Reference service for its faculty, staff, and students in 2001-2 using the Human Click platform. The one year experiment was not renewed in 2002-3 due to cost, problems with the software, and impact on staff resources. In order to explore alternatives and stretch available resources, the MyWebLibrarian collaboration was investigated as a possible solution to the library’s predicament. MyWebLibrarian began as a collaboration between public, academic, and health science libraries of the Alliance library system, and the North Suburban library system, with the support of LSTA funds from the Illinois State library. MyWebLibrarian built upon several years of previous virtual reference projects at each library system. The MyWebLibrarian’s vision was to expand services across the state of Illinois, and to provide three queues of service: Public Library, University and college library, and Medical Library reference. Outreach to potential new participants resulted in Governors State University library joining the collaboration in June 2003. At the present virtual reference is provided 6 days a week from 9 am to midnight using library reference staff from participating libraries, sharing responsibility for staffing the virtual queues at scheduled times. Governors State University was able to re-establish an improved virtual reference service using MyWebLibrarian by using volunteer librarians and Reference LTA’s; and maximizing the use of scarce resources. This paper will tell the Governors State University successes and failures at virtual reference service; the impact on library staff and users, and plans for the future. It will also discuss the Illinois State Library’s AskUs! Illinois initiative and the developing best practices for providing virtual reference through libraries in Illinois. It will also explore the unfulfilled vision of a place for consumer health virtual reference in the MyWebLibrarian project.

Title: Need to train 200 people in three months? Collaborate!

Author(s)/Affiliation(s): James W. Beattie, Head of Reference Services, and Karla Block, Head of Access and Outreach Services, Bio-Medical Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Purpose: This paper will report on a dynamic collaborative training effort between a large, urban, academic health sciences library and small rural hospital.

Brief Description: Library staff collaborated with hospital staff to provide guidance in writing a grant. The hospital received an NLM Internet Access to Digital Libraries Grant. They subcontracted with the library to provide training and consultation. Logistics of training a large number of staff in a three-month timeframe were determined. This involved partnering with the local technical college to use their computer classroom. Twenty sessions were scheduled for six days during the summer. Additional one-on-one sessions for selected practitioners followed.

Results/Outcome: The first year of the project was a success, largely attributable to collaboration. Evaluation results were overwhelmingly positive. Training efforts were flexible and geared to the needs of attendees. Anecdotal information suggests that practitioners have begun to incorporate the information into their clinical activities. Regular contributions about online resources are made to the hospital’s employee newsletter. Approximately 220 hospital employees were trained in the first year, close to meeting the two-year final project goal. Plans are underway for the second year and will include continued collaboration to train a cohort of staff as “super users,” provide advanced training about online health information resources, and more.

Evaluation Method: All training session attendees completed a pre- and post-survey. Grant staff interact regularly with key hospital staff to gather input and anecdotal information. Evaluation will be a focus of year two. A final survey to assess changes in digital information-seeking behaviors and health care delivery practices will be administered at the end of the project.

Title: Connecting Library and Community

Author(s)/Affiliation(s):Carole Gall Gift Development Officer & Collection Management Team Leader Indiana University School of Medicine Libraries

Abstract: Through the Scholarship of Service Librarian leadership, creativity, and expertise are fundamental to collaborative service programs between libraries and community partnerships. To maximize the impact of service, librarians need to document the successes of library-community collaboration by soliciting feedback, establishing measurable outcomes, and conducting research. This documentation becomes the basis for service scholarship. To develop librarians into scholars of library-community service, we need to increase understanding of community-based scholarship, and within our institutions define, and coordinate service. The products of the scholarship of service can be presentations at national forums, books, and peer-reviewed journal articles, resource guides, and websites. As a tenured librarian and faculty member at an urban university with a goal of excellence in civic engagement, I am a citizen of the communities of city, state, the nation, and the world, and am encouraged by awards, grants, and campus administrative commitment to foster campus-community activities. Civic engagement is defined as the active collaboration that builds on the resources, skills, expertise, and knowledge of the campus and community to improve the quality of life in communities in a manner consistent with the campus mission. This work includes teaching, research, and service (including patient and client services) in and with the community. The benefits of the scholarship of service are significant to both the library and the community partner(s). The scholarly activity elevates the service project by applying scientific methodology, creating a model program, or mentoring service-learning experience, which warrants excellence, and advances knowledge for the common good. Concomitantly there are facts for favorable publicity for both the library and community partner(s), data for publications and presentations, and evidence toward professional development and service. This supports promotion and tenure for academic librarians, and all librarians for annual reviews.

Authors: Patricia W. Martin, Head, Electronic Systems, Taubman Medical Library, University of Michigan, Theresa Arndt, Head of Outreach Services, Taubman Medical Library, University of Michigan, Rebecca L Tremaglio, Graduate Student, School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Objective: This paper reports on a university collaboration, the goal of which was to publish locally-produced pocket manuals in a PDA format, for in-house use at the point of care.

Setting/Participants/Resources: Librarians at the Medical Library wanted to explore the role of the library as a publisher of local reference materials in a PDA format. Relevant content was needed. A collaboration developed among the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pathology, Pharmacy Services, and the Library. The Residents supplied a manual they had written, titled Just the Facts, (Helpful Facts, Hints and Resources for the Intern). The local Antibiotic Susceptibility Report was supplied by Pathology and Pharmacy; this report is published to provide the current clinically relevant antimicrobial information to in-house staff.

Brief Description: In order to determine which of two software programs, iSiloX 4.01 for Palm OS or Adobe Reader for the Palm 3.05 produced the most usable document for the PDA, test documents were produced in each format. Usability testing was performed. Results/Outcomes: By the time the paper is presented, data will have been analyzed to determine if the application used has an impact on user error rates and to determine expressed preference of application. The preferred software will be used to produce the final manuals, which will be distributed to the Residents for their use.

Future Plans: We will solicit and publish additional local information for in-house use at the point of care.

Author/Affiliation: Melinda Orebaugh, MLS, Director, Corporate Knowledge, Gundersen Lutheran Health System, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Purpose: This paper will provide a brief overview of knowledge management, outline skills required for librarians wishing to accept knowledge management responsibilities, and describe the author’s personal experiences and responsibilities as director of corporate knowledge at Gundersen Lutheran Health System.

Methods: More and more organizations are hiring chief knowledge officers or designating someone within their ranks to perform this work. A knowledge officer is responsible for ensuring that an organization maximizes the value it achieves through one of its most important assets – knowledge. Librarians possess many of the profile attributes required of knowledge officers and are uniquely qualified for these positions. Key capabilities essential for librarians as knowledge managers, as identified by the author, will be presented.

Conclusions: Through collaboration and partnerships, librarians can develop opportunities to champion or lead knowledge management initiatives.

Title: Improving impact and presentation of mediated search results returned to Corporate Information Center clients.

Author(s)/Affiliation: J. Paulson, Scientist, Kraft Foods, Global Technology and Quality

Purpose: This presentation discusses efficient and time saving methods to improve appearance and impact of mediated search results returned to clients as an end product of both mediated search requests and periodic alerts. Database results discussed include Medline, PubMed, Embase, and patent information. The information professional should also use this opportunity to brand and advertise services of the information center.

Setting/Participants/Resources: Kraft Foods is the world's #2 food company and the #1 food business in the US. Major brands include Kraft, Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer, and Post. Kraft Foods North America also makes Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Minute rice, Stove Top stuffing, and Velveeta. Kraft Foods Inc. is engaged in the manufacture and sale of branded foods and beverages in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. The Company's brands span five consumer sectors: Snacks, primarily cookies, crackers, salted snacks and confectionery; Beverages, primarily coffee, aseptic juice drinks and powdered beverages; Cheese, primarily natural, process and cream cheeses; Grocery, primarily ready-to-eat cereals, enhancers and desserts, and Convenient Meals, primarily frozen pizza, packaged dinners, lunch combinations and processed meats. The Company has operations in 68 countries and sells its products in more than 150 countries.

Brief Description: It is no longer appropriate to give clients raw, unprocessed output from databases. Instead, clients are demanding well organized and user-friendly results. With an increasing number of alerts and searches and a demand for customized, user-friendly output, the author needed to develop skills to implement these changes in addition to reducing the time needed to create a user-friendly and informative document. Issues to be addressed include: moving text alerts from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to a more user-friendly Microsoft Word document, using data conversion software to improve patent alerts, and using the Dialog Tag format to aid creation of professional looking document.

Results/Outcome: This on-going project began as an effort by the author to make alerts more user-friendly to one research group. After positive feedback, members of the research group requested additional customization of format and layout not only to make the results easier to use, but also give additional information. This feedback was used to standardize result output across all alerts and mediated searches conducted by the author.

Title: The Iowa Public Health Information Project--an Experiment in Collaboration and Cooperation

Author(s): Jean Sayre Director Hardin Library for the Health Sciences University of Iowa Hope Barton Assistant Director Information Resources Hardin Library for the Health Sciences University of Iowa

A joint effort for the common good--that is how the Hardin Library staff perceives its partnership with the Iowa public health community in the development of the Iowa Public Health Information (IPHI) resource. Professionals responding to a needs assessment done by University of Iowa College of Public Health for a different project rated the need for local and state public health information very highly. With funding from the NN/LM Greater Midwest Region, the Hardin Library staff worked with the Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa Public Health Agencies and the University of Iowa College of Public Health to create a state and local resource that would be useful to all public health professionals in Iowa. During the IPHI development phase, two staff teams from Hardin Library worked on design and content. Our partners advised us on conducting focus groups and getting input and feedback from the public health community as the project progressed. Focus group results guided the design of the IPHI homepage as well as the function and content of the resource. The collaboration proved successful as the public release of IPHI on March 1, 2004 met with an excited response from the public health community in Iowa. There also were news releases and stories published in the national media. The next phase of the IPHI project involves training Iowa public health professionals in their home offices. This project has helped Hardin Library strengthen its connection with the public health community in Iowa. To maintain goodwill and trust, the Hardin Library has committed to maintaining and developing this resource as long as it is needed. Hardin Library also is releasing the database structure and documentation to any library staff that wants to create a similar resource in their home state.

Title: Collaboration: Creating Faculty Instructional Technology Workshops

Authors: Leslie Schick, Academic Information Technology & Libraries, University of Cincinnati and Alison Armstrong, University Libraries, University of Cincinnati.

Abstract: This paper describes the collaboration between Academic Information Technology & Libraries (Medical Center campus) and University Libraries (Main campus), two independent library jurisdictions at the University of Cincinnati, who have been funded for six years by the University’s Faculty Development Council to develop a training program to motivate and enable faculty to improve teaching by using technology in the classroom. The program goal was achieved by providing a variety of hands-on workshops throughout the academic year followed by an intensive week-long summer instructional technology institute. Current workshop topics include Blackboard, Microsoft Office products, Adobe productivity tools, digital images and sound, bibliographic management software, Dreamweaver, and using PDAs. Librarians from both library systems worked in teams to develop and teach all of the courses. Funds received (approximately $800,000 to date) to support this program have been used to purchase computers, software, scanners, data projectors, and printers for electronic classrooms, to offset trainer and support staff salaries, to provide support for training materials, and to publicize the workshops and weeklong instructional technology institutes. Since 1998 over 3000 faculty have attended the workshops and 120 faculty members have participated in the six weeklong instructional technology institutes. Program effectiveness is measured on an ongoing basis. Faculty are asked to complete evaluation forms at the end of each workshop to provide immediate feedback to the instructor(s). In addition, faculty who have attended workshops/summer institutes are contacted a year or two after attending a workshop to see what impact the workshop(s) has had on their teaching or other scholarly pursuits. Most feedback received has been extremely positive. This program has been cited by many at the University as a model for cross-campus collaboration. In addition, it has boosted the reputation of librarians on campus as leaders in the areas of technology and teaching.

Title: The Library’s Role in a Collaborative Nursing Program Among Remote Academic Institutions

Author / Affiliation: Marie-Lise Shams, University of Detroit Mercy

Brief description: New challenges face librarians involved in collaborative academic programs. This paper will focus on the collaboration of libraries of two remotely located universities and one Medical Center to support students and faculty of a new joint nursing program. The librarians' involvement and role in the various phases of the establishment and accreditation of the program will be addressed. The nursing faculty of one university are teaching the same curriculum at the second distant university. Consequently, students of both institutions must have access to equivalent library resources. The planning process, ongoing procedures, issues, encountered difficulties, and successes will be discussed.

Title: Establishing a Statewide Depository for Electronic Theses & Dissertations: A Collaborative Effort of the OhioLINK Library Consortium & Ohio Graduate Schools

Author: Sheryl R. Stevens, MSLS Head of Bibliographic Control Raymon H. Mulford Library Medical College of Ohio Toledo, Ohio

OhioLINK, a consortium of Ohio’s college and university libraries and the State Library, set up and maintains the OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center (http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/), a freely accessible full-text database of theses and dissertations by graduate students at participating Ohio academic institutions. This paper will provide an overview on how the site was developed through the collaborative effort of OhioLINK and Ohio graduate schools and why a continuing partnership is necessary for its usefulness and success.