MAC Messages – Number 77

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Goodbye to the Sea, Head for the Hills | >MAC ’99 Reflections | Award Recipients | MAC/MLA AHIP Counselors | MAC Nuggets | MAC/MLA Application for Committee Appointment | MAC/MLA Membership Form | Have You Renewed Your MAC/MLA Membership? | News From the States | MAC Elects New Officers | MAC Officers, Committee Chairs, Editor, and State Reporters | For Sale | MAC Messages Deadline | Hospital Libraries

The Bellamy Mansion was elegant. The shrimperoo was rowdy or pensive, to taste. The towels were warm and fluffy. The speakers were insightful or informative or instructive or admonishing or humorous or thought-provoking. The food was scrumptious, the weather crystalline. The camaraderie was endearing, the award winners deserving. The courses enlightened. The hospitality was delightful. Information was exchanged, knowledge absorbed, friends made, networking performed, food and drink enjoyed, thinking thought, ideas exchanged, salutations delivered, sun and surf basked in. What more could we ask from a MAC annual meeting? Those of you who were not there were missed.

I thank all who attended the meeting and hope you took from it something of value. On behalf
of all MAC members, I thank especially the members of the Local Arrangements Committee with its various subcommittees, and the Program Committee for all they did to make this a successful meeting. I thank all who participated in the meeting, from speakers, to authors of contributed papers, to instructors, to poster presenters, to exhibitors, to committee members, to the hotel staff and workers, to all of us. Our meetings represent an enormous effort on the part of many and we can be proud of the many collaborations that go into them.

The end of one annual meeting now permits us to look forward eagerly to the next and all of you are invited to think how you will participate in and enjoy the MAC 2000 Annual Meeting in Roanoke, Virginia, at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, next October 18 – 21.

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Well, the meeting is over. Now, back to work!!

As important as our annual meeting is, it is not all that our chapter is about. I urge all of you this year to reflect on how the chapter can serve our individual and collective needs as information professionals, and turn those reflections into suggestions, recommendations, challenges. Re-read our bylaws and read your MAC Messages issues. This is a particularly good year to do this as we begin to create our next five year strategic plan. Post to the MAC list, write letters to MAC Messages, serve on committees; run for office; get on the program at the annual meetings; and communicate your interests and/or concerns to the members of the MAC Executive Board.

I invite each of you to indicate your interest in serving on any of MAC’s committees. Please return the Committee Application form in this issue to me and I will most definitely be in touch.

Many of the things we are planning were discussed at the MAC Executive Board Meeting held Tuesday, Oct. 5 in Wilmington. Following are highlights and further discussion.

Announcements, Changes, Decisions:

• Inhye Kim Son will be the new MAC Listserv Manager, taking over from Jonathan Lord.
• The MAC 2000 Annual Meeting LAC co-chairs have been determined. They are Beverly Gresehover, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Ellen Lindenbaum, Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, and Joanne Sullivan, St. Agnes Health Care in Baltimore. We are happy to have them selected. They will soon choose a site and begin their planning.
• Our MACLend chapter project will be submitted to MLA this year for the MLA Chapter Project of the Year Award.
• Approved a contribution of $1000 from MAC for the Lucretia McClure Excellence in Education Award.
• Approved creating a task force to formulate the chapter’s policies on records retention and distribution. This action grew out of Diane McKenzie’s work with the chapter archives and her proposed agreement with Special Collections and Archives of the University Library Services of the University of Virginia to locate our archives there. The task force will work on the details of this agreement and formulate policies and procedures for managing all of the chapter’s records, including electronic
  records.
• There are currently 298 paid members of MAC, including 41 new members.

1999/2000 Goals & Objectives:

Formulation of this year’s goals and objectives was delayed. We normally propose and vote on those at the annual meeting. The Executive Board will work on these soon, taking into account any preliminary work by the Strategic Planning Task Force, and propose them to the membership by means of MAC Messages and the listserv. The Board will endeavor to put in place a regular means to solicit ideas from the membership regarding annual goals and objectives, and a timely process for proposing, approving,
and monitoring them.

Strategic Planning:

We have come to the end of our current five year strategic plan and need to create a new plan. A Strategic Planning Task Force will be formed and charged in the near future. The Task Force composition will be the current chair, chair-elect, immediate past chair, past chairs of the Professional Development Committee (PDC) and Membership Committees, and Chapter Council Representative Alternate. One or two other members-at-large are needed. Anyone with a particular interest in serving on this task force, please contact me.

Several issues discussed by the Executive Board were referred to this Strategic Task Force. They include: the annual meeting rotation, the terms and functions of officers, the responsibilities of committees, especially the PDC, issues related to forming the annual slate of officers, issues related to responsibilities and planning for annual meetings. The primary function of the task force will be to propose five year goals and objectives for the chapter.

Financial Planning:

A Financial Planning Task Force (FPTF) has been created to explore issues related to managing and using the chapter’s financial resources. The FPTF members are: Virginia Carden, Ginny DuPont, Patricia Hammond, and Beverly Murphy. A charge for this group will be issued shortly. The Executive Board requested the Task Force be asked to provide guidance on responding to requests from MLA for financial contributions to its programs or initiatives.

As you can see, there is much to do. If you are interested in any of these matters, please send messages, ask questions, make contributions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Steve Squires

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For those who did not attend the MAC meeting in Wilmington and haven’t had a chance to check in with those who did, I will let you in on the awards given at Thursday’s luncheon:

Our one-person library recognition award was given to Jacqueline Ramseur, librarian at Gaston Memorial Hospital. Jackie’s attitude and example fosters cooperation between libraries in NC. She provides superlative library services at Gaston Memorial Hospital (described by her boss as “a lifesaver” and “knowledgeable about the world of information”) and provides reference and interlibrary services to NC libraries in “rush” situations without fail. She participates in MACLend and has been an enthusiastic supporter of and recruiter for it since its inception. She readily shares her experiences with everyone. She is a long time member of MAC and the Association of North Carolina Health Sciences Libraries where she has participated on several committees and attended many meetings. Jackie “single-handedly provides library service to the staff of one of America’s fastest growing hospitals” and is very deserving of this recognition.

Jane Trumbull, Head of Cataloging at Duke University Medical Center Library, has been a very active member of MAC since joining in 1983. She is currently MAC secretary, a member of the Executive Board, and an AHIP Counselor. She has been a member of the Honors and Awards 1993-94 Local Arrangements and Nominating Committees. She co-chaired the Centennial Committee and chaired the Professional Development Committee. In addition to MAC, Janie is professionally involved in the activities of the Association of North Carolina Health and Science Libraries, MLA and the Health Sciences Librarians of OCLC, to name a few. Janie has been described as conscientious, responsible, a good organizer, a good listener, and approachable. Her nominator said “she has a pleasant way of approaching people and is willing to go the extra mile to make MAC work.” MAC members are truly fortunate to have benefitted from her involvement in and service to MAC.

Carol G. Jenkins, Director of the Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is our 1999 MAC Librarian of the Year. Carol is a consistent national leader in our profession. Besides building an excellent academic library, she also contributes to the growth of our profession and its professionals in many ways. She has been a strong supporter of the AHEC system in NC for many years, lending support and ideas to strengthen its programs and services. Carol maintains memberships in the Association of North Carolina Health and Science Libraries and MAC and encourages her staff to actively participate in professional associations. She promotes graduate library school education through cooperation and internships with the UNC School of Information and Library Science. Many students have been hired at the library after completing an internship. Carol is also active in MLA. She has served on its Board of Directors and has been involved in its legislative agendas and activities for many years. Carol Jenkins, our MAC Librarian of the Year, is a true leader and example to follow.

Please join me in congratulating these fine MAC librarians on their awards.

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As we all know, libraries are providing a great service to the public by enabling them to access the Internet. This is truer in public libraries, but more health services libraries are seeing more consumers coming into our libraries requesting access to health information. Consumer health and medical librarians need to be aware of what legislation is impacting the public and school library sector, as this will at some point affect us too.

E-rate discounts, Internet filtering bills etc., though less important to many of us, still need watching. Rural health libraries have access to Federal grant funding to wire their libraries for access to the Internet, and they are affected by E-Rate discounts. Lately, however, the Legislature is inclined to use appropriated monies for other purposes or to tie funding to Internet filtering legislation. For example, in appropriations for education funding the House and Senate have used education allotted funding to support other appropriation bills for Veterans Affairs or HUD to the tune of $7.5 billion, and with the freezes and budget caps, this means even less money for education than mandated. The Juvenile Protection bill (H.R. 1501), now in conference, has an Internet filtering mandate tied to E-rate discounts. This continues to be an issue that is not easily resolved.

Another hot issue is the intended closure of NTIS. The Commerce Department wants to discontinue NTIS because “changes in the information marketplace have made obsolete the need for NTIS to serve as a clearinghouse and, thus have in turn made it increasingly difficult for NTIS to maintain its operation on a self-sustaining basis, as established by Congress.” A determination of which government organization will take over the functions of NTIS – both the Library of Congress and the GPO are possibilities – is now under investigation.

****ACTION IS NEEDED****

Ask your State Legislatures to oppose the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) as uniform state law. According to ALA Washington Office, “UCITA would have a negative impact on libraries and educational institutions by allowing vendors to exert greater control of licensing terms in contracts for software and information products.” They feel that the increased use of mass-market licenses, which could contain non-negotiable, contract terms, might inhibit fair use privileges and access to information that libraries now enjoy.

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As we enjoy the change of seasons, it is time to renew your membership in MAC-MLA. The greatest strength of any organization is its members. Membership in MAC-MLA provides you with the opportunity for networking and communication with professional colleagues. If you have not yet renewed your membership for 2000, please complete the membership form.

If you are not sure of your membership status, check the mailing label on this issue of MAC Messages. The code in the upper right-hand corner indicates your membership status. If your label has “2000” in the corner, then you have already renewed your membership for 2000.

Questions about your membership status or any address changes should be directed to the MAC-MLA database manager, Lynn Eades, beades@med.unc.edu.

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North Carolina

Donna Flake attended the European Association of health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) annual meeting in Tartu, Estonia as the MLA representative. While there Donna presented a paper entitled “Consumer Health Library Service Provided by An Outreach Librarian”. The paper was co-authored by
Donna Flake, Dan Horne, and Rachel Frick.

MACLend News

Cindy Williams is the new librarian at Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, NC. Cindy has ten years health science library experience. Please note the Rex Healthcare Library’s new fax number – (919) 784-1670.

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The annual MAC election was held over the summer and we are proud to announce and congratulate our new officers.

Jonathan Lord of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the Chair-elect. He will serve in that capacity this year, and as Chairman 2000/2001. Mary Wallace Berry of the Presbyterian Healthcare System in Charlotte, North Carolina, was elected Secretary and will serve during 1999-2000. Ginny Dupont, of the Headquarters Library of the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs in Washington, D.C., will be our Chapter Council Representative, and Paula Raimondo of Maryland our Chapter Council Representative Alternate. Both will serve from 1999-2002.

These new officers join Steve Squires, Chair, Pat Hammond, Treasurer, and Terrance Burton, Immediate Past Chair, to form the 1999/2000 MAC Executive Board. The names of all officers and committee chairs, along with contact information, can be found within this newsletter and on the MAC website. Please contact any of them with your ideas and concerns.

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A Brandon/Hill Selected List item we ordered by mistake.

DeVita. Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology. 5th ed. 1997, 2v. List price is $255.00, but we are willing to sell for $150.00. (has our library’s bookplate in front and name stamped on ends) Contact Becky at 410-539-0872, ext.343 or e-mail at becky@medchi.org.

Becky Lindberg

Information Services Specialist

Library

MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society

211 Cathedral Street

Baltimore, MD 21201

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Newsworthy items for the MAC Messages November/December issue may be submitted to the editor (macmessages@angelfire.com) until November 15, 1999. Remember to include “MAC” in your subject line.

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A reality of hospital librarianship is that the medical staff may be your most important political ally. Many hospital libraries exist because of the requests of the hospital’s physicians and surgeons. Because of their level of education and professional practice, this user group MOST values access to library services. Requests to Hospital Administration from the medical staff get more attention and a quicker
response than requests from a librarian.

How can a hospital librarian cultivate a good relationship with the medical staff?

1. Send a welcome letter with information about library services to new medical staff members. Ask if they would like a visit from you or would they like to drop by the library.
2. Allow them after hours library access, even if JCAHO standards no longer mention it. Face it, the occasional missing book or journal issue is not worth politically alienating a physician or surgeon.
3. Attend grand rounds, cancer conferences and other CME activities. Ask questions during or after the meeting, so the medical staff perceives you as a lifelong learner and an interested supporter of their presentations.
4. Do what you can do to meet their deadlines. When a physician calls and says “I forgot I’m suppose to speak today,” RUSH to make them look good. You help them look good; you look good! (Beware of the habitual last minute requester.)
5. Impress them with your expertise. If you haven’t taken a medical terminology class, take one!. Become a knowledgeable MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) user. Do your best to find information when they admit they can’t. Establish rapport with the reference librarians at an academic health sciences library. When you run out of ideas, call for help. That’s being resourceful.
6. Buy books requested by the medical staff. Most cost less than $100 and, unlike journal subscriptions, are a one time expenditure. In practice, few members of the medical staff will take the time to ask for a specific title. The goodwill that results from fulfilling their need is worth the expense. Besides, they may teach you about a useful book that isn’t on the Brandon-Hill list!
7. Act as a referral center to your organization. Tell medical staff where to get slides made, who to contact to reserve a meeting room or the name and phone number of the Director of the Pharmacy.
8. Turn the other cheek when they ask you to do something that seems professionally demeaning. Accept the challenge to educate them about the role of the professional librarian.

By showing interest in their activities, being flexible enough to work with their timetables and understanding the needs of their practice, hospital librarians have the opportunity to earn the respect of the medical staff. The dividends are being treated as a fellow professional and having a medical
staff that supports the librarian.

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