Ann C. Weller

Use of special collections as an opportunity for outreach in the academic library.

ABSTRACT Academic special collections librarians have made great strides in making their collections discoverable and accessible to a wide audience. This article examines use of special collections departments and the many kinds of outreach librarians undertake to increase access to and knowledge of their collections, including creating electronic finding aids, digitizing material, collaborating with faculty, increasing participation in instruction and reference, and using exhibits, social media, and relationships with community partners to further the mission and goals of the library and the college or university. The article uses the University of Illinois at Chicago Special Collections Department as a case study.

Evolving Electronic Journals: Accomplishments and Challenges

Abstract This article is an overview of the evolution of electronic journals (e-journals) with a focus on library management issues. The article will review some early difficulties that appear to be resolved, discuss current issues ranging from library policy to practical use of e-journals, and highlight some unresolved challenges.Abstract This article is an overview of the evolution of electronic journals (e-journals) with a focus on library management issues. The article will review some early difficulties that appear to be resolved, discuss current issues ranging from library policy to practical use of e-journals, and highlight some unresolved challenges.

Ruth Holst, AHIP, FMLA, Medical Library Association, 2010–2011

Ruth Holst, AHIP, FMLA, has always reached for the heights, from age four, when she climbed to the top of the grain silo on her family farm, to being the first hospital librarian selected to deliver the prestigious Janet Doe Lecture, to being elected the Medical Library Association’s (MLA’s) 2010/11 president. Like a number of her predecessors as MLA president in the last ten years, Ruth grew up in a small rural town. The second of five children born to Wisconsin dairy farmers, Ruth is intelligent, funny, conscientious, and friendly and is the embodiment of Midwest common sense and warmth. A math major with a minor in library science from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee (UWM), Ruth always intended to be a teacher, like her mother. But when she graduated in 1970, there was a glut of teachers in Milwaukee, and on a whim, she applied for a nonprofessional position at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee. Because she had a library science minor, she was offered a paraprofessional job in the hospital library, where she would spend the next thirty-two years and work under a total of thirteen supervisors. Three years after being hired, she earned a master’s of science in library science from UWM. In 1970, the library at Columbia Hospital held a reprint collection accumulated by Harry Beckman, who for twenty years had been editor of the Yearbook of Drug Therapy. The reprint collection had been used to help compile one of the popular ‘‘yearbook’’ series. Beckman was an important mentor to Ruth. He saw the need for the library to hold a core list of health sciences material, using a list published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He was followed by a second significant mentor, George C. Owen, who encouraged Ruth professionally, understood the importance of an effective hospital librarian, and increased her responsibilities in both the library and the hospital. Owen continued to update the reprint file until his retirement in 1981. Because the reprint collection was so popular with the staff physicians, Ruth continued to work with approximately twenty physicians to keep this quick reference service up to date until 1992. The 1970s were a time when health sciences librarians would often spend hours on only 1 literature search—3 hours per search was not unusual—and as a result, searching took up a good bit of the librarian’s time each week. As library services were increasingly used at Columbia Hospital, Ruth was able to hire more staff.