Patricia L. Thibodeau

Revolution at the Library Service Desk

ABSTRACT This article will describe how a revolution in customer service provision beginning in 2002 has led to an evolution of library services. When the reference and circulation desks were merged to create a single service point, responsibilities were broadened, core competencies were developed, and staff members were cross trained. In 2005, an analysis of staffing and work patterns demonstrated a need to build upon the original model to better utilize staff and ensure coverage of the desk. Reference librarians were moved to “on call” status, technical services staff were added to the schedule, and core competencies and procedures were refined.

Trends in hospital librarianship and hospital library services: 1989 to 2006.

OBJECTIVE The research studied the status of hospital librarians and library services to better inform the Medical Library Associations advocacy activities. METHODS The Vital Pathways Survey Subcommittee of the Task Force on Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians distributed a web-based survey to hospital librarians and academic health sciences library directors. The survey results were compared to data collected in a 1989 survey of hospital libraries by the American Hospital Association in order to identify any trends in hospital libraries, roles of librarians, and library services. A web-based hospital library report form based on the survey questions was also developed to more quickly identify changes in the status of hospital libraries on an ongoing basis. RESULTS The greatest change in library services between 1989 and 2005/06 was in the area of access to information, with 40% more of the respondents providing access to commercial online services, 100% more providing access to Internet resources, and 28% more providing training in database searching and use of information resources. Twenty-nine percent (n = 587) of the 2005/06 respondents reported a decrease in staff over the last 5 years. CONCLUSIONS Survey data support reported trends of consolidation of hospitals and hospital libraries and additions of new services. These services have likely required librarians to acquire new skills. It is hoped that future surveys will be undertaken to continue to study these trends.

When the library is located in prime real estate: a case study on the loss of space from the Duke University Medical Center Library and Archives.

The Duke University Medical Center Library and Archives is located in the heart of the Duke Medicine campus, surrounded by Duke Hospital, ambulatory clinics, and numerous research facilities. Its location is considered prime real estate, given its adjacency to patient care, research, and educational activities. In 2005, the Duke University Library Space Planning Committee had recommended creating a learning center in the library that would support a variety of educational activities. However, the health system needed to convert the librarys top floor into office space to make way for expansion of the hospital and cancer center. The library had only five months to plan the storage and consolidation of its journal and book collections, while working with the facilities design office and architect on the replacement of key user spaces on the top floor. Library staff worked together to develop plans for storing, weeding, and consolidating the collections and provided input into renovation plans for users spaces on its mezzanine level. The library lost 15,238 square feet (29%) of its net assignable square footage and a total of 16,897 (30%) gross square feet. This included 50% of the total space allotted to collections and over 15% of user spaces. The top-floor space now houses offices for Duke Medicine oncology faculty and staff. By storing a large portion of its collection off-site, the library was able to remove more stacks on the remaining stack level and convert them to user spaces, a long-term goal for the library. Additional space on the mezzanine level had to be converted to replace lost study and conference room spaces. While this project did not match the recommended space plans for the library, it underscored the need for the library to think creatively about the future of its facility and to work toward a more cohesive master plan.

Data-Driven Collection Management: Through Crisis Emerge Opportunities

This study describes a librarys transition from a just-in-case monograph collection development process to one that is data driven. Five disciplines were selected for review, with circulation data correlated with a number of variables including number of editions, number of pages, Doodys Core Titles rating, book type, and physical characteristics. E-book usage was also compared with print counterparts. The results demonstrate the need to conduct a discipline-specific usage analysis on an annual basis to ensure the best use of limited collection development budgets for new acquisitions.

Anxiety in first year medical students taking gross anatomy

To study anxiety levels in first‐year medical students taking gross anatomy. Thirty medical students per year, for 2 years, completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) 10 times during a 13‐week gross anatomy course. In addition, behavioral observations were made by a psychiatrist during gross anatomy for demonstrations of assertive, destructive, neutral, or passive behavior. Additional qualitative outcome measures were group exit interviews with the faculty and students. The mean BAI for all 60 students per year, for 2 years, was 2.19 ± 3.76, 93% of the scores indicated minimal anxiety, and 89% of BAI values were less than five which confirmed a minimal level of anxiety. The low level of reported BAI contrasted sharply with verbal reports by the same students and face‐to‐face exit interviews with the psychiatrist. Symptoms of stress and anxiety emerged as a result of these conversations. The high levels of subjective stress and anxiety revealed by the interviews were unknown to the gross anatomy faculty. The low scores of students on the BAIs stand in sharp contrast to the BAIs reported for medical students in other published reports. Although it is possible that our students were truthfully devoid of anxiety, it is more likely that our students were denying even minimal anxiety levels. There have been reports that medical students feel that admitting stress, depression, or anxiety put their competitiveness for a residency at risk. We conclude that students may be in frank denial of experiencing anxiety and, if so, this behavior is not conducive to good mental health. Clin. Anat. 27:835–838, 2014.

Supporting PDAs: the experience of a health sciences library

This paper discusses the Duke University Medical Center Library’s experience in supporting the use of mobile technology. Over the past several years, the library contributed to the formation of a mobile technology infrastructure through surveys, organization of information sharing events, and the development and review of medical center wide proposals and reports.

Sweeping It All Away: A Case Study in the Elimination of an On-Site Journal Collection

Libraries are increasingly becoming service points rather than custodians of physical books and journals. At Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives, we came to realize that the space used to house our bound print journals could be used more effectively as student study space. We undertook a comprehensive review of our entire journal collection, both on site and off site. Various criteria, including patterns of usage, overlap, perpetual access, and rarity, were used to determine if we could eliminate or relocate our entire in-house journal collection. By doing this we created a spacious, convenient, and heavily utilized study space for our patrons.

The Growing Crisis: Scholarly Publishing Pressures Facing Health Sciences Libraries

ABSTRACT Health sciences librarians work within a complex environment, one that quickly adopted access to electronic resources. The open access movement evolved as an alternative to traditional publishing as prices for STM e-journals steadily increased, but it also raised issues and concerns for authors within the more traditional biomedical culture. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access policy provided an opportunity to support researchers’ compliance with the policy, while advocating for open access and author rights. As an outgrowth of the NIH policy, health sciences libraries have promoted open access through a variety of activities within their academic health centers.

The Chicago Collaborative

The Chicago Collaborative is a new initiative bringing together representatives from bio-medical associations of publishers, editors, and libraries to discuss the grand challenges facing scholarly communication and to avoid the usual discussions in the traditional buyer–seller paradigm. The Collaborative, which is less than two years old, has identified several educational initiatives it plans to pursue: educating authors about scholarly communications, creating a “Publishing 101” for librarians, and developing “Libraries 101” for publishers. While the Collaborative is still building a strong bond among its founding members, it is now considering what other associations should be involved in its future discussions and projects.