MAC Messages – Number 78

November/December 1999

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Moving Ahead on all Fronts | MAC/MLA Annual Business Meeting Minutes | MAC/MLA AHIP Counselors | University of Virginia Health Sciences Library Awarded Prestigious IMLS Grant | MAC/MLA Membership Form | MAC Nuggets | Hospital Libraries | In Remembrance | National Network of Libraries of Medicine Southeastern/Atlantic Region | MAC Officers, Committee Chairs, Editor, and State Reporters

The time draws near when many routine and not so routine MAC activities will kick into gear. I urge you to be aware of these, respond when you need to, and lend your support and ideas when inspired to.

The 1999/2000 Program and LAC committees have found their members and are at work planning next October’s annual meeting. Please respond to Jonathan’s request via the Listserv for your ideas for that meeting.

The MAC committees have considered their tasks, projects, and agendas for this year and are beginning to carry those out. They are also gathering new committee members. I got good response from my request on the list for committee volunteers, but your chapter committees can still use a few more helpers. Please volunteer by being in touch with me or by sending me the committee volunteer form found on the MAC website.

A Financial Task Force has been named and will begin work soon. Task Forces for Strategic Planning and for MAC Records Management are all but named and will be working throughout the Spring and Summer. The winter MAC Executive Board will meet on January 28, 2000, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This is the meeting where MAC committees hold meetings in the morning and report their activity to the Board. The Board itself will have a full agenda as well, including formulating chapter goals & objectives for this and next year. This meeting is open to all MAC members and we invite everyone’s participation.

Now, this is VERY IMPORTANT! We forgot to elect a MAC nominee to the MLA Nominating Committee last year. We are correcting that oversight by having a special mid-year election and the ballot is in this very issue of the newsletter. Please detach the ballot you find at the end, mark it and place it in an envelope, put your name on the envelope (but not on the ballot), and send to the MAC secretary. Only MAC members who are also MLA members can vote for this nominee. Please, all you MAC/MLA members, send in your ballots and help us select this person.

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MAC/MLA Annual Business Meeting Minutes
Hilton Hotel, Wilmington, NC
Friday, October 8, 1999

The meeting was called to order to order at 10:05 a.m. by MAC/MLA Chair, Terrance Burton.

Executive Board Members present: Terrance Burton, Chair; Steven Squires, Chair-Elect, Julia Shaw-Kokot, Past-Chair; Jane Trumbull, Secretary; Patricia Hammond, Treasurer; Paula Raimondo, Chapter Council Alternate. Absent: Ginny Dupont, Chapter Council Representative.

Executive Board Reports

Chair Terrance Burton announced that these reports and the standing committee reports were in the members’ registration packets.

Secretary’s Report. A motion was made by Janice Kelly, and seconded by Donna Flake, to approve the minutes for the October 6, 1998 Annual Business Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. These minutes were printed in MAC Messages, as well as being included in the meeting packets. The minutes were approved as printed.

Treasurer Patricia Hammond added a correction to the printed report in the packets. The heading for the report should read: July 1, 1998 – June 30, 1999. As the report shows, we had a balance as of June 30 of $32,228.14. The treasurer also pointed out that membership forms and reimbursement vouchers are available both here at the meeting and at the MAC Website.

Past Chair & Nominating Committee Chair Julia Shaw-Kokot reported on this year’s election. New officers are: Jonathan Lord, Chair-Elect, serving from 1999-2002; Mary Wallace Berry, Secretary, 1999-2000; Ginny DuPont, Chapter Council Representative, 1999-2002; Paula Raimondo, Chapter Council Alternate, 1999-2002. Ballots were mailed to 258 members. 150 ballots were returned, and 145 of these were eligible to be counted (56%).

Committee Reports

Local Arrangements Committee Chair Donna Flake reported that there were 175 total registrants, 16 vendors, and $1,900 received in sponsorships. Terrance Burton thanked Donna and Chair-Elect/Program Chair Steven Squires for the excellent meeting and for their skills in combining the best of the New South and the Old South.

Honors & Awards Committee Chair Janice Kelly reported the awards. MAC Librarian of the Year Award: Carol Jenkins; the One Person Library Award: Jacqueline Ramseur; and the Marguerite Abel Service Recognition Award: Jane Trumbull. Terrance Burton congratulated the honorees, and thanked JoLinda Thompson and her committee for their work and Janice Kelly for taking over as chair upon JoLinda’s departure for Alaska. He also pointed out the need for more input to this committee from the general membership.

Membership Chair Russet Hambrick reported that we have 298 members and that 41 of these are new members. Welcome letters were written to the new members, renewal notices were mailed in February and letters were sent by Russet to ex-members who had not renewed in the last two years.

Publications Committee Chair Beverly Murphy reported on the MAC Website’s redesign, thanked Adam Glazer for his continuing work as Website editor, and announced that Inhye Kim Son would replace Jonathan Lord as the MAC List Manager.

Professional Development Committee Chair Beth Layton reported that prior to the meeting there were 85 registrants for the 5 classes, with 2 additional registrations at the meeting, for a total of 488 contact hours. One of the original 6 classes had to be dropped because of low enrollment. Beth thanked her committee, in particular Linda Frank, as well as non PDC members Jane Trumbull and Rick Peterson. She reported that the internship program project has been reengineered and that our next intern will work with the Program Committee. Beth will take charge of publicizing this internship opportunity. Seven people requested AHIP counseling during the meeting. Paula Raimondo is stepping down as AHIP Counseling Coordinator and Jane Trumbull will assume these duties.

New Business

MAC Goals and Objectives. Chair Terrance Burton reported that the MAC 1999-2000 Goals and Objectives have been put on hold until a needs analysis is carried out in conjunction with the MAC Strategic Planning Initiative.

MAC Project of the Year. The board voted to submit the MACLend Project to MLA for consideration as Chapter Project of the Year. MACLend is a DOCLINE-based, reciprocal inter-library loan project between participating libraries. Chair Burton also reminded members to be planning ahead for next year’s project.

Meeting Rotation. As part of the needs assessment, the Strategic Planning Task Force will also investigate how meeting rotations are handled in other chapters. Chapter members were reminded of the importance of their suggestions and input to the task force.

MLA Endowment Requests. The use of MAC funds to contribute to MLA Endowments has been handled on a case by case basis, as in the newest decision to contribute to the Lucretia McClure Excellence in Education Award. This policy has been referred to the Financial Planning Task Force for suggestions on a more systematic approach.

MD Consult. The Board has decided to put the discount proposal from MD Consult on hold as far as MAC Chapter participation is concerned, since MLA is currently engaged in discussions with MD Consult on an institutional membership basis.

Door Prize. The door prize of a free MLA membership for the year 2000 was drawn, and the winner was Maureen Moffat, a new MAC member from Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Special Interest Group. Pat Hammond asked for a show of hands to indicate interest in having a special interest group for hospital librarians within MAC. The response looked positive and plans will be made to get together at next year’s MAC meeting.

Chapter Council Announcement. M. J. Tooey, reporting from Chapter Council, announced that there will be a group on benchmarking studies headed by Bernie Todd-Smith. The group will meet at MLA and will include one person from each chapter who will then report back to their chapters. M.J. asked interested persons to see her after the business meeting.

Chair Terrance Burton thanked everyone for a great year and asked our new MAC Chair Steven Squires to stand and be recognized.

MAC 2000. Claire Meissner and Mary Alice Sherrard, as LAC Co-Chairs for 2000, invited members to next year’s October 18–21 meeting at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center in Roanoke, Virginia. A video of Roanoke and its environs was shown, followed by drawings for a plethora of prizes contributed by next year’s host group, SWvAHILI (the Southwestern Virginia Health Information Librarians).

A motion was proposed to adjourn by M. J. Tooey and was seconded by Julia Shaw-Kokot. The motion was approved and the meeting adjourned at 10:45 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jane Trumbull, MAC Secretary

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Thanks to a $250,041 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia will digitize, arrange, describe, preserve, and provide access via the World Wide Web to approximately 30,000 pages of manuscript material and 1,000 photographs from the extensive Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection. The project will provide a model for the integration of state-of-the-art, standards-compliant information technology and scholarly resources to make unique library resources more widely available. The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library was selected as one of 50 institutions (and the only health sciences library) receiving awards totaling $10,405,993 from among the 187 grant proposals received by IMLS.

Linda Watson, Library Director, looks forward to sharing such a rich archive with the world, but observed that the project has even broader potential impact. “It also provides the resources to more fully explore the use of emerging standards for organizing and displaying electronic resources,” she said. “What we learn will help us (and perhaps others) further develop our digital directions in the new century.”

The work of the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission of 1900-1901 is the core of the Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection. The Commission, headed by Major Walter Reed (1851-1902), an 1869 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, made a dramatic discovery and achieved a breakthrough in medicine for which Reed was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. At experimental stations just outside Havana, Major Walter Reed and the other members of the Yellow Fever Commission proved that the Aedes aegypti mosquito was the vector for the yellow fever virus. The Collection provides a unique resource of primary materials to support research in many areas of historical inquiry. Examples of materials from the Collection can be viewed in an online exhibit, The United States Army Yellow Fever Commission and the Spanish-American War: Science and Politics in Latin America, 1898-1904 : (https://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2513789).

For more information, contact: Joan Echtenkamp Klein at 804-924-0052 or jre@virginia.edu.

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Before I started to write this article, I read e-mail on MEDLIB-L from Donna Beales, who was opening a discussion about the effect Federal government cutbacks are having on Medical Libraries, and it gave me impetus to write this message. I think that we librarians need to be more proactive in our efforts to make sure that all libraries are funded adequately and that funding that is allocated to libraries isn’t taken away and used elsewhere (which has already happened this year). The ALA Washington office monitors legislation that concerns the library community, and I have passed on some of their alerts to the MAC listserv. Now it is up to you. Don’t let bad things happen and then whine about the consequences. Let’s get out there and be the “squeaky wheel” that gets things done.

How many of you e-mailed, called or wrote your legislators about HR 354, the “anti-piracy bill”? Some people did and the bill has been delayed but it still looms ahead. Congress is trying to get out of town for the holidays, so the bill has hopefully been put aside for more pressing matters like funding to keep the Federal government going. Now is your chance to do something. Go to the ALA Washington ALAWON archives at “http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon” and click on October and then go to October 28 where you will find the alert. It also includes a sample letter to send to your legislator. Passage of this bill means more expenses for your library in the future.

I don’t know about you, but I find it sadly ironic that the legislators that pontificate about how awful it is when Big Government tries to interfere in people’s lives are the same ones who turn around and demand that libraries put filtering software on their computers to “protect” people from pornography. Then they compound their hypocrisy by tying filtering compliance to library funding. So let’s also think about whom you are going to support in next year’s elections. I will be happy to list, in upcoming reports, the supporters of these blackmail bills so you can consider whether to vote against them next November. Be sure to write and tell them why you are voting against them! Remember that your Representative and Senator are supposed to be listening to his/her constituency (and that is YOU).

There are two other issues that the library community needs to monitor. The Labor-HHS-Education appropriation funding is still in negotiation. Library programs are funded at $163.2 million, but it may be a victim of a 1% cut to offset other spending. Secondly, the Senate has conducted a hearing on the proposed closing of NTIS. They heard testimony about whether it should be closed and, if so, who should take over its functions – GPO, Library of Congress or the Archives. The National Commission on Libraries pointed out that there is no overall Federal policy on information issues, which is especially worrisome with both paper and electronic formats that need specific handling. The proposal to close NTIS may be left for a few months while other matters are considered, but it eventually may need the library community’s input. Think about the impact of its closing on your institution and let your Senator know.

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Copyright Guidelines

At the annual meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, James Heller, Director of the Law Library at William and Mary University, taught a continuing education class entitled Applying Copyright Law in Libraries. Here’s some helpful information that hospital librarians can use:

When copying an article from your collection (for in-house use or interlibrary loan), use a copyright stamp that says:

“This material is subject to the United States Copyright Law; further reproduction in violation of the law is prohibited.”

When copying a book chapter, you may copy the copyright information from the verso side of the title page. With few exceptions, the copying of entire copyrighted works is forbidden. An entire work includes a newsletter or pamphlet. Exceptions are made when the copy replaces a lost, stolen or damaged copy in your collection.

Display a copyright warning where orders for photocopying are accepted and at self-service copiers. Copyright warning signage and labels can be purchased from library supply companies. When requesting interlibrary loan materials, a library is obligated to follow the CONTU Guidelines. The National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) formulated these guidelines in 1978 to discourage libraries from borrowing “such aggregate quantities as to substitute for a subscription.” The guidelines are frequently referred to as the 5-5-1 rule. For journals published within the last 5 years, a library should request a maximum of 5 articles from the same title during a 1 year period. The borrowing library should maintain a file of interlibrary loan requests for 3 years. Exceptions are made when an issue is missing or the journal title is on order. When requesting an interlibrary loan that is an exception to CONTU guidelines, it is helpful to give an explanation in the DOCLINE COMMENTS field. For example, “Our library’s issue is missing, we need a replacement copy.” When library staff photocopies for a requester, make only one copy at a time without paying royalties. Don’t make a copy if you know the requester plans to sell it and hasn’t gotten permission or paid royalties.

Remember that you have the right to refuse a request. The copyright warning sign at our library’s service desk states:

“This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law.”

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It is with real sadness that I bring you the news of the passing, on Thanksgiving Day, of Ruth Bissette. Ruth was employed at Wilson Memorial Hospital in Wilson, North Carolina, for twenty years. Eleven of those years were spent in the hospital’s Resource Center. Ruth worked closely with Rosa Edwards and was her friend, colleague, and good “right arm.” Ruth was knowledgeable, efficient and very thorough in her library work. Ruth was active on both the Service Award and Employee of the Month committees at WMH. She also worked closely with both the medical staff and the hospital auxiliary. Many of you may have known Ruth through working with her on Interlibrary loans. Some of you may have met her at MAC, in Wilmington, North Carolina, last month. If you met her, you would remember her because Ruth was always smiling and willing to offer assistance to any and all who needed it. Ruth was truly a friend to all, and those of us who had the great pleasure of knowing her will sorely miss her. A memorial service for Ruth was held at Wilson Memorial Hospital on Thursday, December 2nd.

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Web-Based DOCLINE Update

Effective October 1, 1999, dial-up access to DOCLINE will only be available through MCI/Tymnet. FTS2000 service has been discontinued. Instructions for accessing DOCLINE through MCI/Tymnet may be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/psd/cas/mcilogon.html. DOCLINE is also available over the Internet access via telnet. DOCLINE updates are posted on http://www.nlm.nih.gov/psd/cas/newdocline.htm.

We are looking for two library improvement sites for year 04 of our contract. If you know of a library that has a small collection, no Internet access, and a library manager who works 10 hours per week and wants to improve services, please call Sandy Teitelbaum at the NN/LM office.

Try some of the newly redesigned web interfaces to several of NLM’s the products and services: the NLM homepage at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/, PubMed’s beta-test interface at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed and MEDLINEplus at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/.

Want to be a consultant? We are recruiting librarians to consultants in our Region. Check our web page at https://nnlm.gov/sea for the consultant’s registry form.

Lisa Boyd, who has been our outreach coordinator and consumer health outreach coordinator, resigned her position to move to Charleston, SC. Lisa will be the manager of special projects at the Medical University of South Carolina. We are recruiting for the outreach coordinator position. The job description can be found at https://nnlm.gov/sea.

Beth Wescott joined the staff in August as the Network Access Coordinator. Beth is responsible for DOCLINE, SERHOLD, LOANSOME Doc, membership and newsletter activities. Please join me in welcoming Beth.

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