BIOFEEDBACK: Biomedical Library Newsletter

New Series Spring 1996 Issue #31

BIOMEDICAL LIBRARY AND LEARNING RESOURCES JOIN FORCES

Following the trend at such medical schools as Cornell, George Washington University, LSU, Loyola, University of Miami, University of Tennessee - Memphis and others, the Biomedical Library and Learning Resources (media production services) have joined forces to create the Department of the Biomedical Library and Learning Resources. The combined departments will be under the direction of Tom Williams.

One of the first steps taken was to create and distribute an evaluation and needs assessment form for Learning Resources, which was sent out in early March. If the form has not been completed, please do so and return to the Biomedical Library campus location. If the form has not been received, please call 460-6885 to request one. The Homepage will be expanded in the near future to include information about Learning Resources.

After careful evaluation of the survey results, the goal will be to update equipment, improve existing orprovide new services, and coordinate all services for increased quality and efficiency.

Learning Resources can provide the following services: typesetting, poster preparation, technical drawing, slide and image production, AV production and AV hardware services. For more information, contact Mike Carmichael, 460-6319.

BIOMEDICAL LIBRARY USAGE

In reviewing the Biomedical Library's role as the primary library resource for the College of Medicine, College of Nursing and College of Allied Health Professionals, the following usage patterns and statistics emerge: [if you can't view tables, please click here.]
COM CON COAHP OTHER
Total Circulation of Materials  35% 20% 23% 22%
Document Delivery/ILL  79% 10% 5% 7%
Online Databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL) 27% 49% 17% 7%
Staff Assistance (Reference, etc.) 32% 38% 18% 12%

A journal usage study has been conducted by the Biomedical Library for more than four years.
Statistics for May 1994-May 1995 indicate that the following are the top ten titles in usage.:

  1. Nursing
  2. New England Journal of Medicine
  3. American Journal of Nursing
  4. JAMA
  5. Nursing Times
  6. Journal of Biological Chemistry
  7. Proceedings of the Nat'l Acad. of Sciences
  8. RN
  9. Journal of Advanced Nursing
  10. Nursing Research

OUTREACH: AN INTERNATIONAL CONNECTION

The Biomedical Library has entered into an agreement with the Biblioteca Ezequiel Martinez Estrada at the Fundacion Favaloro in Buenos Aires, Argentina to provide photocopies of needed articles from the Biomedical Library's collection. The Fundacion Favaloro serves its primary clientele of clinicians and researchers as well as other physicians, scientists and health care professionals in the area. Via the Internet, requests will be e-mailed from Argentina and processed within 24 hours of receipt. As more titles become available electronically, it will become possible to transmit the entire article via e-mail to the requestor. In the meantime, after receiving the electronic request, articles will be mailed via traditional air mail. With this service, a requestor in Buenos Aires can have the full article in hand within a few hours of the request -- in some cases just minutes.

CLASSES SCHEDULED

The Biomedical Library offers classes each month in topics of interest for health science professionals.

Currently offered are classes in the use of Grateful Med and the World Wide Web. Grateful Med is the National Library of Medicine searching software for accessing the MEDLARS databases (such as MEDLINE). The World Wide Web (WWW) is the most popular part of the Internet for browsing and locating information on almost any subject. This class is designed to give a basic knowledge of surfing the WWW by using a networked browser. These classes are scheduled monthly, with a schedule is posted prominently in each location. Special classes for departments or other groups can be scheduled for other times, if desired. For more information call either site of the Biomedical Library.

NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK

Got a favorite song with health care related lyrics? Something like "Bad Case of Loving You" (Doctor, doctor, gimme the news...) could win a free copycard in one of the drawings held at both sites of the Biomedical Library for National Library Week, April 14-20, 1996. In addition to this and other drawings, there will be informative displays detailing Biomedical Library services, both those presently in place and planned for the future. Stop by the display for more information.

ELECTRONIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT NEWS

Greater access to a program can be obtained if it is networked, allowing multiple users. If a college, division or department would like to place software on the Biomedical Library's network, please contact Pat Rodgers. A networked copy of the software must be purchased, not a single-user copy.

REQUEST ARTICLES ELECTRONICALLY

With a jaguar1 ID copies of articles can now be requested electronically. To access type : illat the jaguar1 prompt. The first time in the program requires the completion of the onscreen User Profile with such information as name, college, status, and mode of delivery. The college entered determines which library receives the request (University Library or Biomedical Library.) This default information need only be entered once. Information can be edited at a later time by choosing User Profile from the Main Menu. Information can also be changed for a specific request. When completing the onscreen forms, press to move to the next field. In order to see the choices of those fields where the information is in brackets, press and use the arrow key to move through the list. Press to accept the information and move to the next field. To return to the top of the screen and move through the fields again, press when you reach the last field. When complete, the request form is sent to the appropriate library. A copy of the request is also sent to the requestor's e-mail account. In some cases, charges may apply. For help or more information call the Biomedical Library Reference Desk at 460-7044.

NLM UPDATE

An 800# is now available for searching Grateful Med - (800)525-0216. This can be used from any section of the United States. Availability of NLM databases via other services, including the 800 numbers for rural users, will be phased out. Users will need to change their SETUP to FTS2000 and type in the 800 number.

Effective January 1996, an e-mail address will be added to the Address (AD) field of a MEDLINE record as the address appears in the journal for the first author. It is important to remember that the e-mail address is listed for the author at the time the article was written.

Effective with articles published in 1996, the National Library of Medicine will increase the number of author names in MEDLINE and Index Medicus from 10 to 25 names. In the past the number had been limited to 10 authors.

The databases, HEALTH (Health Planning and Administration) and HSTAR (Health Services Technology Administration and Research) are being merged to form HealthStar. This new database will cover literature in health care administration, economics, planning and policy, as well as health services research, clinical practice guidelines and health care technology assessment.

BIOMEDICAL LIBRARY FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

Two members of the Biomedical Library personnel will be retiring the soon. Sister Mary Giles Peresich, Head of Technical Services, has worked in the Biomedical Library for 14 years. She has served on various University Committees, including the University Library Committee, various search committees and the Legislative Contact Team. Her professional service includes the Medical Library Association and the NOTIS Users Group. A retirement party will be held in her honor on May 29 in the Terrace. Marlene Filbert, Computer Specialist II, has worked for USA COM for 10 years in various departments. A retirement party in her honor will be held April 24 in the Terrace. The Biomedical Library faculty and staff wish both of them the best in their retirement.

Pat Rodgers has been appointed Chair Designate of the Credentialing Committee of the Medical Library Association and Tom Williams has been appointed Chair Designate of the Awards Committee of the Medical Library Association.

In March, Pat Rodgers spoke on "The Impact of Electronic Journal and Document Delivery on the Future of Technical Services and Collection Development" at the EBSCO Subscription Services' Executive Seminar. This was a meeting of Assistant Directors and Heads of Technical Services and/or Collection Development from academic health sciences libraries.

Becky Hebing and Serdar Ozoplat have joined the staff as Library Technical Assistants in the Circulation Department, working at both the Campus and Medical Center sites.

INTERNET RESOURCES OF NOTE

In addition to the USA Biomedical Library homepage, the following nursing WWW sites (with URL) are of interest:
  • HealthWeb-- http://www.lib.umich.edu/tml/nursing.html (this link is no longer working 1/3/01)

  • Information about the field of nursing, licensing, certification and the job market; Resources in clinical areas of nursing as well as important biomedical links; Information about electronic discussion groups such as listservs, usenet, and journal clubs; Information about doctoral programs around the world and links to nursing schools.
  • Nursing -- http://galaxy.einet.net/galaxy/Medicine/Nursing.html

  • Midwifery guides; NP Web: A Primary Care Homepage for Nurse Practitioners.
  • American Journal of Nursing Home Page -- http://www.ajn.org (changed to http://www.nursingcenter.com/journals/catch.cfm?id=AC9F81F2%2D1522%2D11D3%2D8EB0%2D0090276F330E)

  • American Journal of Nursing Company Online Services; AJN Network.
  • University of Washington-- http://www-son.hs.washington.edu/www-servers.html (this link is no longer working 1/3/01)

  • Nursing related Web servers; Gopher servers; Various schools of nursing and health sciences pages; FTP and Telnet sites.
Remember when entering the URL, punctuation and capitalization must be exact.

The following nursing listservs are of interest to health care professionals:

  • NPInfo (Nurse practitioners)
  • NURSENET (general)
  • NICU-NET (neonatal intensive care issues)
  • NRSINGED (Nursing education)
  • nrsing-l (nursing informatics)
  • SNurse-L (student nurse)
Please contact the Biomedical Library at medlib@jaguar1.usouthal.edu if you need assistance in accessing any of these sources.

BIOFEEDBACK, New Series, Issue #31, Spring 1996
The Biomedical Library Biofeedback, a publication of the University of South Alabama Biomedical Library, is published at irregular intervals. Editor: Judy Burnham. Contributors to this issue were Judy Burnham, Jie Li, Mike Perry, Sister Mary Giles Peresich, Diane Williams and Tom Williams. Comments should be addressed to Judy Burnham, Biomedical Library, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688-0002


To make comments, suggestions, or get more information, send email to medlib@jaguar1.usouthal.edu or call (334)-414-8210.

University of South Alabama Biomedical Library

Revised: April 24, 1996 (updated 1/3/01)