Even though the University’s fiscal year starts on July 1, around the Library we really see the beginning of the academic year as our official start. So, welcome to the new members of our community, and welcome back to our old friends and colleagues. The HS/HSL is always a busy place, but as we look into our crystal ball for the upcoming year, we will be focused on a lot of different things. Our priorities for this year:

• Ease of access. Soon we will be able to offer “single sign-on” as the method for logging into our resources from offsite. No more 16-digit barcode… just your UMID. Thanks to our colleagues in CITS and UMCP ITD for their help on this project. See article below.
• Ease of discovery. By December, we hope to introduce a “discovery tool,” allowing our customers to find multiple types of library resources (scholarly articles, books, reviews, images, and more) on their topic with just one search. We are going to need a name for this tool, so watch for our contest!
• Access redesign. To support the discovery tool, we will need to redesign our web site – lots of work, but it is time!
• Resource Sharing. Slow but steady progress towards sharing resources among the libraries at our campus and College Park is being made. It is very difficult and time consuming to identify areas of intersection and collaboration and then renegotiate licenses to allow this sharing
• Research support. Through funding from the National Library of Medicine, we are discovering best practices for supporting the research enterprise. This is interconnected in so many ways to our campus efforts to secure a CTSA (Clinical and Translational Science Award) and develop an informatics core. See article below.
• Revitalizing the conversation.  We will identify new ways to engage our constituents in the life of the library through town halls, focus groups, advisory conversations, and a new strategic plan.
• Regional outreach. We have entered year two of our five-year, $11.5 million contract to serve as the home for the Southeastern/Atlantic Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. This contract advances the work of the National Library of Medicine throughout 10 southeastern states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC to health professionals, community-based organizations, consumers … anyone needing health information!
• Community outreach. Our other three-year grant (to develop a curriculum focusing on the use of health information to reduce health disparities) has entered its second year. We will continue to work with students from Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy over the course of the academic year. A paper on the project has been accepted for presentation at the American Public Health Association meeting this fall in San Francisco.
• Building modifications. New technology on the first floor. Enhanced teleconferencing and media in the conference rooms. Spiffed up teaching labs. A potential home for informatics.
• Building our unique digital presence through our digital archive. In addition to the inclusion of significant campus resources, we are digitizing portions of our historical collection in preparation for…
• Our 200th anniversary! Founded in 1813 through the acquisition of Dr. John Crawford’s collection, the HS/HSL is the founding library in the USM and one of the oldest medical libraries in the United States. In 2013, we will begin our celebration of the past, present and future of our Library with programs, events, and exhibits.

Whew! We will be busy. We are looking forward to the energy of a new year and seeing and meeting everyone in person or virtually. Welcome!

The Library is happy to announce that we are moving toward implementing single sign-on for Library resources from off-campus. Instead of logging in with your barcode and last name, you will soon be asked for your UMID and password, the same ones you use to log in to Blackboard, SURFS, myUM Portal, etc. If you haven’t set one up yet, it is simple to do. Visit the myUM Account Management page and choose New User, Set Up Account.

Creating a myUM account is not yet available for UM affiliates (i.e., pharmacy preceptors, UMMC residents, UMMC staff, etc.).

The Library faculty are designing expanded services to meet the information needs of researchers involved with translational research, especially those affiliated with the University of Maryland’s newly-formed Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The Library project has two major components: to assess researchers’ information needs and to develop expertise through education and training. During the year-long project, library faculty project leaders will conduct a web-based survey and focus group interviews, in addition to site visits to and from the University of Florida and Washington University.  The project is funded by an award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/Southeastern Atlantic Region is providing funding for the project. To learn more or to sign up to participate in a focus group session, contact Alexa Mayo, Associate Director for Services at the HS/HSL.

The HS/HSL is reviewing the use of library resources and services. An anonymous online survey will appear at random two-hour intervals between August 2012 and December 2012. The three-question survey will only take a few seconds to complete. Thank you for participating!

In addition to receiving notifications via email, ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan) users can now receive them as text messages. To do so, simply add your text address to your account following this format:

*E-Mail Address: jsmith@som.umaryland.edu,4101112222@vtext.com.

Complete instructions are available on our website.

Please note that:

• Charges may be incurred from your service provider. Check the terms of your contract.
• Some notifications contain more text than will fit in a standard text message. Check your email for the entire message.
• Do not reply via your phone if you have questions. Please use email instead.

Contact Resources Sharing for assistance.

The HS/HSL is assisting the University of Nairobi-College of Heath Sciences Library as it develops tools, resources, practices, and expertise to meet changing information needs in a digital world. In July, library and IT staff from the University of Nairobi-College of Heath Sciences Library visited the HS/HSL for seven days of instruction, discussion, and demonstration. The visit was sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Partnership for Innovative Medical Education in Kenya, a U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded international collaboration. An aim of the collaboration is to improve the quality of medical education in Kenya. Recognizing the importance of a successful library program to quality medical education, librarians at the HS/HSL and in Kenya are working together to expand information services and resources at the University of Nairobi-College of Health Sciences Library.

Andrea Goldstein, the liaison to the School of Medicine, works with students, staff, and faculty in their clinical and research pursuits.

Andrea attends morning report for the Department of Medicine once a month, where she meets with medical students and Internal Medicine residents. After each case report has been concluded, she takes the students’ and residents’ unresolved questions back to the Library to do further research. Andrea then posts on the Library’s Medicine Morning Report blog, discussing both the answers she has found and the search strategies she used to find them. The blog posts are distributed by the chief residents, but everyone is welcome to follow the blog for updates.

In addition to working with students and residents on clinical topics, Andrea has been working with faculty members writing systematic reviews. Librarians at the HS/HSL are available to collaborate on systematic reviews, identify search strategies, and locate information resources.

Each semester, the HS/HSL offers a series of free workshops to UM faculty, students, and staff, UMMC staff, and Corporate Members. The workshops address a wide variety of topics. You can learn how to store and manage citations with RefWorks, have an overview of the grant and funding processes in Grant Proposal Writing, get an introduction to a variety of medical apps in Medical Apps for Mobile Technology, or learn how to search and use tools more effectively in PubMed. These are just a few of the workshops that the library provides. For registration and full course descriptions, visit our Fall 2012 Workshops webpage.

Can’t make one of our regularly scheduled workshops? If you request an On Demand Workshop, a librarian will cover the same material with you one-on-one, or with your group.

Want quick and easy access to drug information on your smartphone or tablet? Consider downloading apps provided by Micromedex. Micromedex has several free apps for Apple and Android devices.

The Micromedex Drug Information app provides concise information on over 4500 terms. Information available includes:

• Generic Names
• Drug Class
• Adult and Pediatric Dosing
• Pharmacokinetics
• Adverse Effects

The Micromedex Drug Interactions app allows users to search and view potentially harmful drug interactions. It also indicates the severity of these interactions, which range from minor to contra-indicated.

To learn more about these apps, including how to download, check the Library’s Cool Tool Guide.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has reduced the hours of their closed stacks book retrieval service on Mondays and Fridays.  The service, which had been available during all Reading Room hours, is now offered in two sessions on those days:

• 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (last retrieval requests accepted at noon)
• 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last retrieval requests accepted at 4:00 p.m.)

Main Reading Room hours will remain unchanged (M – F, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), and no other services (e.g., photocopying, printing, access to online resources) will be affected.

NLM chose to reduce the availability of the service after noting a significant decline in retrieval requests. If the Monday and Friday retrieval hours work well, NLM plans to apply them throughout the week. More information about this change is available at the NLM website.