MLA
Incentive Membership Recruitment Program
BMLA TOC on Web
New Leadership Elected
DocKit#10
BibKit#2
Copyright & Intellectual Property Issues
Testifies for NLM
Supports PubMed
Unveils Centennial Theme & Logo
HCFA Leader Named
NLM Announces Free MEDLINE
MLA top
In February 1997, MLA began piloting the Chapter-based Incentive Membership Recruitment Program. This pilot program encourages chapter members to recruit non-MLA chapter members to participate in the national organization and provides sample materials for members to use in recruitment efforts.
With the association’s centennial approaching in 1998, MLA is seeking the participation of as many health sciences librarians as possible to lead us through the challenges and opportunities of the next century.
Why should your fellow chapter members join MLA? In addition to access to thousands of health science experts from around the world and timely, informative publications, members also enjoy state-of-the-art continuing education courses and discounts on MLA products and meetings. MLA Member Bob Braude of Cornell University Medical College, Wood Library, New York, NY, expressed, “I joined MLA because I felt it was both to my advantage and part of my professional responsibility to join and contribute to the major association representing my profession. That decision has been more than justified as I have received innumerable benefits from my membership, but two stand out. The first is all the effort MLA performs in our behalf from providing CE to being an advocate for health sciences librarianship. The second is the vital communication with colleagues that MLA provides via its publications and its meetings.”
Not only will chapter members benefit from becoming MLA members, but through this program, each chapter will also benefit. Chapters will receive $5 for each new student member and $25 for any other new member recruited. Individuals will also be recognized for recruiting new members and may receive:
If you would like to participate in the chapter recruitment program, please contact your chapter chair, an MLA Membership Committee Chapter Representative, or MLA headquarters to request recruitment packets. Your support is greatly appreciated. top
MLA JOURNAL LAUNCHES SEARCHABLE CONTENTS, ABSTRACTS ON WEB SITE top
For the past 86 years, the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, MLA's quarterly research journal, has consistently provided MLA members and subscribers with the latest innovations and products in the health sciences information field.
In April 1997, the Bulletin's electronic evolution took a leap forward. Readers can now access the journal's table of contents and article abstracts via MLANET, (the association's Web site) at www.kumc.edu/MLA/bmla.html. The electronic table of contents and abstract information begins with the July 1996 issue of the Bulletin and will be updated as each issue goes to press. J. Michael Homan, MLA member and Bulletin editor explains: "We expect the electronic version of the table of contents to be available two to three weeks before readers receive the paper copy of the Bulletin,"
The Bulletin electronic table of contents features a search engine, providing precise retrieval of words or phrases in the abstracts. The search engine can be used to search the full Web site including all volumes and issues; specific volumes; or specific issues. This service is made available through a partnership with Allen Press, the company that prints the Bulletin.
The publication of Bulletin material in both electronic and print formats allows readers to obtain information from more than one medium. Anyone with Internet access can receive the electronic table of contents and the selected text material via MLANET, but the printed version of the Bulletin, which remains the archival or "gold" standard, will be available only to MLA members and Bulletin subscribers.
MLA looks forward to receiving comments and opinions of this latest development for MLA's publications program. Homan stated, "We would like for readers of the Bulletin to visit the electronic table of contents presentation on MLANET and provide input on the presentation style, features, and future electronic direction." top
NEW LEADERS PLAN FOR CHANGE IN HEALTH SCIENCES COMMUNITY
The Medical Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce that its members
have elected Jacqueline Donaldson Doyle as President-Elect for the 1997/98
association year. Bernie Todd Smith and Diane G. Schwartz were elected to
three-year terms on MLA’s Board of Directors. Doyle, Director of Continuing
Medical Education and Learning Resources at Good Samaritan Regional Medical
Center in Phoenix, AZ, will assume the MLA presidency for one year in May
1998.
President-Elect Doyle, an active member of MLA, has held several distinguished offices within their organization and has chaired several committees, including the 1996 MLA National Program Committee, the Continuing Education Committee, and the Task Force on the Role of the Librarian in Information Management.
The 1995 recipient of the MLA Award for Excellence in Achievement in Hospital Librarianship, Doyle believes that MLA members must become more assertive and more involved within the organization. “It is important that we not only talk about our value, but that we also act. Our strategies must build on collaborative relationships while making our vision a reality . . . These collaborative projects will focus on advocating good legislation affecting health care and education; on professional development for information professionals; and on changing, as necessary, our professional image. As a professional association and in partnership with others, we can succeed in these efforts,” she stated.
Bernie Todd Smith, Director, Library and Circuit Librarian Program, Werner Health Sciences Library, Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY, has performed many official MLA duties, including serving as chair of the Hospital Libraries Committee and of the Upstate New York and Ontario Chapter.
Smith advocates for her colleagues to accept new roles for themselves and for the organization. “In the last decade of the 20th Century, health care librarians are experiencing challenges and opportunities as never before. As MLA celebrates its 100th year, the Association must reorganize its operations and priorities to provide rapid response to societal changes which are affecting its members,” declared Smith.
Diane Schwartz, Executive Director, Primary Care Resource Center, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, has chaired MLA’s Health Sciences Library Technicians Committee, and has served on the National Program Committee, the Continuing Education Committee and the Health Sciences Library Technicians Committee. A widely published author, Schwartz is a member of the editorial board of the Medical Reference Services Quarterly and is a member of the Faculty Advisory Panel of the Upjohn Company’s Medical Sciences Liaison Program.
Schwartz believes that the Internet can offer health information professionals opportunities such as the development of new skills through professional development programs on the web; professional contacts; easy access to authors, publishers, association leaders and government officials; and entrepreneurial activities such as software development. top
May 1997 - For more information, please contact Kimberly Pierceall at 312/419-9094 x23; pierceal@mlahq.org top
NEW DOCKIT ON INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PLANS NOW AVAILABLE
The Medical Library Association (MLA) has recently released the latest in a series of DocKits titled DocKit #10: Accreditation and the Hospital Library: Information Management Plans and Assessment Tools. The DocKit was compiled by Kay E. Wellik, AHIP of the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ; Mary J. Jarvis of Methodist Hospital, Lubbock, TX; and Connie Schardt, AHIP of Duke University, Durham, NC.
Containing three main sections, DocKit #10 provides examples of information management plans and assessment tools. The first section includes examples of information management plans from hospitals of various sizes and locations, that serve a variety of populations. The second section presents two plans that outline how a library might respond to the knowledge-based information standards in the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospital. The third section provides three examples of assessment tools for institutional management and library assessment tools.
DocKit #10: Accreditation and the Hospital Library: Information Management Plans and Assessment Tools can be ordered from MLA headquarters at a cost of $45 for members and $55 for nonmembers, plus shipping and handling. To place an order, call 312/419-9094 x19 or visit the MLA Catalog on MLANET at www.kumc.edu/MLAcatalog.html. top
May 1997 - For more information, please contact Kimberly Pierceall at 312/419-9094 x23; pierceal@mlahq.org top
MLA RELEASES GUIDE TO RESOURCES IN RESPIRATORY CARE
The Medical Library Association has recently released the second in a series of BibKits, titled BibKit #2: A Guide to Information Resources in Respiratory Care. MLA BibKits are selective, annotative bibliographies of the literature in discrete subject areas related to the health sciences.
Compiled by MLA member Pat L. Walter, BibKit #2 provides a selection of recent respiratory care materials that will be useful to students, teachers, and librarians. It also includes information on books, journals, career guides and directories, codes and laws, media resources and electronic resources relating to respiratory care. A variety of sources were used to compile the bibliography, including Majors Scientific Books, the Brandon Hill selected list of books and journals in allied health, and OCLC’s WorldCat.
Because the health care system changes so rapidly, most of the materials used for the BibKit were published after 1994. Earlier titles were included in the bibliography if they were especially useful. Approximately half of the books, which are noted in the first three sections of the bibliography, are geared toward the student of respiratory care. Advanced respiratory care students, professors, and practitioners will find the second half of the bibliography more useful.
BibKit #2: A Guide to Information Resources in Respiratory Care can be ordered from MLA headquarters at a cost of $26.00 for members and $33.00 for nonmembers, plus shipping and handling. To place an order, call 312/419-9094 or visit the MLA Catalog on MLANET at www.kumc.edu/MLA/catalog.html. top
June 1997 - For more information, please contact Mary Langman at 312/419-9094 x16; langman@mlahq.org. top
MLA ADDRESSES COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES
The Medical Library Association (MLA) has launched a special program to address today’s critical copyright and intellectual property issues. The program includes education and advocacy components.
The education component consists of a series of brief question-and-answer fact sheets on issues such as interlibrary loan, print reserves, copyright liability, and general fair use based on the 1976 Copyright Law. The question-and-answer fact sheets can be found on MLANET, (the association’s Web site) at http://www.kumc.edu/MLA/intprop.html. MLA developed the series to provide its members with information resources that will support their need to know about the rights and responsibilities of librarians and library users. A selective reading list and a listing of copyright and intellectual property listservs and Web sites are also be provided.
Because of the absence of new laws and guidelines, MLA has chosen not to address volatile electronic and digital issues in these papers at this time. Papers exploring electronic issues may be added to the series when pertinent amendments to the existing copyright law are made.
The advocacy component of the program addresses digital intellectual property policy issues. MLA continues to work closely with the American Library Association (ALA), American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), Special Libraries Association (SLA), and Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and Digital Future Coalition (DFC) on these issues.
MLA is a professional organization of more than 1,200 institutions and 3,800 individual members in the health sciences information field. MLA members serve society by developing new health information delivery systems, fostering educational and research programs for health sciences information professionals, and encouraging an enhanced public awareness of health care issues. top
June 1997 - For more information, please contact Mary Langman at 312/419-9094 x16; langman@mlahq.org. top
MLA TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS ON NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE FUNDING
The Medical Library Association (MLA) submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies in support of increased 1998 fiscal year funding for the National Library of Medicine (NLM).
In presenting the testimony, MLA member Roger Guard, Director of Academic Information Technology and Libraries, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, emphasized the importance of NLM’s basic services and much-needed outreach activities.
Guard spoke on subjects of particular interest to the medical library community, including basic NLM services and staff support, the NLM Outreach Program, and the NLM High Performance Computing and Communications program. He urged the Senate to reinstitute staff-level positions in order not to compromise the high quality of service that NLM provides. MLA recommended a 9% percent increase in NLM funding for the 1998 fiscal year. top
July 1997 - For more information, please contact Mary Langman at 312/419-9094 x16; langman@mlahq.org. top
MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS FREE PUBLIC ACCESS TO MEDLINE
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) recently launched a new service providing free public access to MEDLINE, the world’s most extensive bibliographical database of published medical information, via the World Wide Web. Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., Director of NLM, made the announcement at a press briefing in Washington, DC, hosted by Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Medical Library Association (MLA) President Rachael K. Anderson, AHIP, stated: “The medical library community is excited about opening up this vast trove of medical knowledge to the general public. Patients and their families are regularly turning to health sciences librarians to find reliable health information. Free MEDLINE means that we can now provide consumers with better access to the quality information they need, and librarians can help them to tap into the full power of this authoritative source.”
World-renowned heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, M.D., an honorary member of the Medical Library Association, stated: “Medical breakthroughs are happening so rapidly that I believe health care professionals and consumers alike should be able to tap into the most recent medical information. Such information is often the critical link in reaching the correct diagnosis, resulting in lives saved, unnecessary treatment avoided, and hospitalization reduce. Even with all our modern advances in health care, I still consider good information to be the best medicine.”
In his announcement of the new service, Dr. Lindberg commented that the opportunity to give consumers access to medical information had come at a good time. “The health care delivery landscape is changing. Citizens are increasingly turning to the Web as a source of information to improve their daily lives, including their health. So, it is vital that they, and the health professionals who serve them, have access to the most current and credible medical information,” he said.
The new MEDLINE service was made possible by a collaboration between NLM and major science publishers such as the New England Journal of Medicine and Science. Before the new service was available users had to register and pay a fee to search MEDLINE and other NLM databases.
The URL for the free MEDLINE service is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed. top
August 1997 - For more information, please contact Carla Funk at 312/419-9094 x14; funk@mlahq.org top
MLA UNVEILS CENTENNIAL THEME AND LOGO
The Medical Library Association (MLA) recently unveiled the logo and theme created in celebration of the organization’s 100-year anniversary in 1998. The logo consists of a blue and silver, sphere-shaped design encircling the centennial theme, “Librarians: Your Health Information Connection.” Events promoting this theme will occur throughout the centennial year.
The second oldest library association in the United States, MLA was founded by four librarians and four physicians with the purpose of increasing the number of medical libraries. Centennial Coordinating Committee Chair June Fulton stated, “MLA is proud and excited to celebrate the many contributions made by health sciences librarians over the past 100 years.”
The year-long centennial celebration will begin with MLA ’98, the association’s 98th Annual Meeting, May 22–27, in Philadelphia, PA, site of MLA’s first annual meeting in 1898. The festivities will continue until MLA ’99, which will be held in Chicago, IL, the location of the MLA headquarters office.
Several centennial-year activities and innovations are in the works. They include: publication of a history of MLA, special issues of the Bulletin (the association’s scholarly journal), centennial-related awards, a time capsule, centennial mementos, and more. Updates on centennial activities can be found on the Centennial Web Page of MLANET (http://www.kumc.edu/MLA/mla100.html).
The association looks forward to celebrating 100 years of supporting the health information professionals whose advances in information management have fostered progress in patient care, medical research, and health sciences education. top
HCFA Leader Named top
For Immediate Release June 27, 1997
PRESIDENT NAMES NANCY-ANN MIN DEPARLE AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE HEALTH CARE FINANCING ADMINISTRATION AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
The President today announced his intent to nominate Nancy-Ann Min Deparle to serve as Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Nancy-Ann Min Deparle, of Rockwood, Tennessee, has served since 1993 as the Associate Director for Health and Personnel at the White House Office of Management and Budget, where she is responsible for budgetary oversight and policy matters relating to all Federal health programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' programs, and Federal employee compensation and personnel practices. From 1987 to 1989, Ms. Deparle served in the Cabinet of then-Governor Ned McWherter of Tennessee as his Commissioner of Human Services, where she oversaw a 6,000 employee agency with a $500 million budget that provided welfare, rehabilitation, and social services. In addition, she was an associate at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling, and was a Partner at Bass, Barry & Sims in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1994, she was named by Time as one of America's 50 most promising leaders age 40 and under. Ms. Deparle received a B.A. from the University of Tennessee, an M.A. degree from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar, and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.
The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is responsible for administering the nation's Medicare program, the Federal portion of the Medicaid program, and related quality assurance activities. The Administrator of HCFA manages the Agency, coordinates policy development and interpretation, formulates program goals, and evaluates policy changes in terms of program effectiveness. The Administrator of HCFA serves as the Administration's primary spokesperson on these issues. top
Free Medline top
Memorandum
To: Members of the NN/LM
From: Director, NLM
Subject: Free MEDLINE
Date: June 24, 1997
On June 26, 1997, the National Library of Medicine will hold a press conference on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. to announce free Web-based MEDLINE accessible through PubMed and Internet Grateful Med. Attached is the Press Release for the press conference which you are encouraged to share with your users and other colleagues on June 26th.
PubMed is an experimental search system that provides free access to MEDLINE in a single search. The search features include:
Sets of related articles pre-computed for each article in MEDLINE; Choice of search interfaces from simple keywords to advanced Boolean expressions; Searching by MeSH index terms (main topics and subheadings) and field restrictions; Links to publishers' Web sites for full text-journals. Initially 24 journals are available, some by subscription only; Clinical query form with search filters for diagnosis, therapy and prognosis; Links to molecular biology database of DNA/protein sequences and 3-D structure data.
Internet Grateful Med provides free access to MEDLINE, as well as AIDSLINE and HealthSTAR. The features include:
Use of the full range of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the UMLS Metathesaurus; Ability to limit searches by language, publication type, age groups, etc., using pull down menus; Loansome Doc document delivery service.
Currently, searching Internet Grateful Med requires a valid User ID and password; however, users will not be billed. A new version to be released in July will include free access to several additional databases (AIDSDRUGS, AIDSTRIALS, DIRLINE, HISTLINE, HSRPROJ, OLDMEDLINE and SDILINE) and will no longer require a User ID.
Free MEDLINE is limited to Web-based searching via the Internet because of great savings to NLM in telecommunications and software costs. Thus, access to all NLM non-Web-based systems will continue to be billed (i.e., direct command language searching of ELHILL; TOXNET; PDQ; and the DOS, Macintosh and Windows versions of Grateful Med whether access is by direct dial, FTS2000, or the Internet).
The Press Release and hot links to IGM and PubMed will be available on the NLM home page (http://www.nlm.nih.gov) immediately following the press conference. Please direct current and new users to the NLM Web home page to search free MEDLINE and to obtain updated and additional information about NLM databases and information services.
Each member of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine plays a vital role in making health information accessible throughout the country. The Library's announcement of free MEDLINE is only one step toward bringing quality health information to those Americans who search the Web. Your efforts to inform users about available information resources, to educate them about the effective use of the various search engines, and to assist them in obtaining copies of the articles containing the information they seek, are critical to ensuring that every citizen has access to the best and most up-to-date health information. We at NLM look forward to working with you to provide the very best and most useful information products and< services.
/Signature/
Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D. top