Whew! It’s only mid-January and I am already tired. Just thinking about the year ahead has me excited and exhausted. I thought that for my first Connective Issues column of 2007, it might be nice to let our community know some of the exciting things coming our way this year.

• Throughout 2007, there will be a wide variety of renovation projects going on throughout the Library to create space for our new tenants, Student Accounts and Financial Aid. They will take up residence in office space created for them on the second floor. We will have to literally move every volume in the library but first we have to weed the collection in order to make room while trying to maintain services and maximum space for our users.
• From mid-August until the end of September we will be the only Maryland site for the national traveling exhibit, “Changing the Face of Medicine,” that examines the impact of women on medicine. Several special events are planned.
• The HS/HSL has agreed to join the Maryland Digital Library for the next five years. This will provide our users with electronic access to almost 600 additional Elsevier titles shared across the USM library consortium.
• Faculty liaisons will continue to work and partner with their schools. Specifically we are collaborating with the School of Social Work’s Community Outreach Service (SWCOS) program to decrease health disparities and improve health through the use of quality health information. As always, we are looking for new partners and collaborators!
• We will continue to enhance our Maryland Health → Go Local database linking users to quality health resources and services. We will be exploring methods to link first responders to this information for disaster preparedness and response.
• Finally, we are working very hard to develop a suite of e-resources for alumni and affiliates. Stay tuned for more information this spring.

Thank you to the over 350,000 people who came through our doors last year and to the over 13,000,000 who visited our web site and e-resources, we appreciate all of you!

The University’s School of Social Work Community Outreach Service (SWCOS) and the Library will be collaborating to provide the general public with improved skills to access health and referral information. Through this project, Library staff and SWCOS staff will be providing training and outreach services to underserved populations throughout Baltimore. The project team will visit community-based organizations in Baltimore neighborhoods to introduce web sites that support improved health, MedlinePlus and Maryland Health → Go Local.

With Maryland Health → Go Local people can identify local health services such as hospitals, nursing homes, support groups, adult day care centers, hospice care, substance abuse treatment centers, and health screening providers. By clicking on Baltimore City or a county in the map of Maryland, people can link to services and programs in a local community – or search for all programs of that type throughout the state.

MedlinePlus is the National Library of Medicine’s consumer health information web site and it links easily to Maryland health programs and services in Maryland Health → Go Local.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine/Southeastern Atlantic Region has provided funding for the year-long project. For more information, contact Paula Raimondo at 410.706.8875.

You can now receive RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds for Table of Contents and search alerts from select journals and databases. If you currently use an RSS reader, feeds of journal content and citations on a particular topic are easy to set up.

By visiting Ulrichweb Periodicals Directory linked from our database list, you can find journals that provide headlines, recent issues or other content via RSS. To identify journals providing these feeds, use the Advanced Search option and select the new "RSS Available" limit. When you find the journal you’re looking for, just copy the URL and paste it into your RSS reader.

Prefer receiving search alerts through RSS instead of email? Here are instructions for saving your PubMed searches as RSS feeds.

Other databases providing RSS feeds for search alerts include EBSCO and Web of Science.

For help with setting up RSS and search alerts, Ask us!

In a recent press release, the Cochrane Library announced it has been added to the ISI impact factor listing provided by Thomson Scientific. The first impact factor for the CDSR will be released in June of 2008. At that time CDSR authors will be able to measure citations to their reviews and indicate the impact factor along with their publications.

More information on impact factors and the ISI listing for the CDSR.

Each semester the HS/HSL offers instructional sessions to help UMB faculty, staff and students improve their searching skills and better manage information. For complete information about the classes, visit the Spring 2007 Class Schedule. Classes are free and there is an easy online registration process. For more information, call 410.706.7996 or Ask Us!

Upcoming sessions included:

• Accessing the Library from Home
• Finding Drug Information
• NIH Public Access Policy: Submit Your Publications to PubMed Central
• Staying Current with the Literature

Many campus members have enhanced the HS/HSL collection through donations of materials throughout the years. As we prepare the building for our upcoming renovations, we have revised our gifts policy. Due to space and staffing constraints while the renovation is in process, the Library will be accepting only gifts less than five years old that are considered valuable additions to the collection.

Full policy information.

Wilma Bass, Monographs/Catalog Management Librarian will be happy to discuss your potential donation with you at your convenience. Please contact her at wbass@hshsl.umaryland.edu or 410.706.1345 to make an appointment.

Jaime Friel Blanck received her Master’s of Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh in August 2004. Before joining the staff at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library in September 2006, she worked at the Michigan State University Libraries in East Lansing, as the Liaison to the College of Nursing.

As HS/HSL’s Liaison to the School of Medicine, Jaime supports the school by teaching courses, providing consultations, and purchasing materials for the Library’s collections. She is also actively involved in promoting Maryland Health → Go Local and other resources through outreach activities.

Jaime can help students become more efficient in navigating the wealth of research data and journal literature to identify answers to their specific research needs. She offers consultations by appointment, where students, staff and faculty can get more in-depth instruction and help with specific research.

Jaime is enthusiastic about being involved with the School of Medicine and would like to meet as many faculty, staff and students as possible. Please email her at jblanck@hshsl.umaryland.edu, or call 410.706.8858 if you would like to discuss how she can help support your information and instructional needs or outreach projects.

Set up a consultation with any of the Library Liaisons.