The message in this month’s column will be short and sweet – thank you! For almost a year, for four hours every month, our users have participated in the HS/HSL Usage Survey. Sometimes it meant a digital interruption when you were online. Sometimes you were barraged by paper if you entered the library during the survey times. Most of the time you were very gracious; and for those who were, a special thank you.

This survey was very important as it will help library staff gain a keener picture of who our users are and what they are using. As we embark on our new strategic plan taking us to our third century (2013 – mark your calendars now), this survey will provide critical, valuable, quantitative data to drive some of our decision making and direction.

We will be sharing some of the results in future HS/HSL Connective Issues.

Thanks again.

Check out the trial of Epocrates Online Premium, "continually updated, integrated drug and disease information."

The trial is running until November 13th.

With the loss of many key personnel from the Library’s softball team, there was a lot of concern about whether the Informers could repeat last year’s success as “B” Division champs. But as Woody Allen said, "80% of success is showing up." And show up they did! Adding some new players, the team showed up for every game and benefited from a forfeit or two. And when the plucky Informers showed up, they ground out every game with perseverance, passion, skill, intimidation when necessary, and blind luck! The championship game against the Dysfunctionals (16-13) was a study in classic softball strategies, using all the rules to the library team’s advantage.

Congratulations to the team!

The HS/HSL will be celebrating National Medical Librarians Month with a series of workshops focused on social networking. These workshops will illustrate some of the unique ways social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google can be used for academic and educational purposes.

The workshops included in this series are Facebook for Your Campus Group, Twitter: Tool or Time Waster?, 20 New Technologies in 30 Minutes, and Google: Beyond Searching.

For full course descriptions and registration visit our Workshops page.

Debra Berlanstein, MLS, AHIP has been named the Head of the Reference and Research Services Department at the HS/HSL. For the past three years Debra was a Liaison to the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at HS/HSL. She has over 25 years of experience as a reference librarian and served as Head of Reference at both the Towson University’s Cook Library and the Tufts University Hirsh Health Sciences Library in Boston. Debra has attended the National Library of Medicine’s Woods Hole Biomedical Informatics course and has expertise in biomedical informatics, expert searching, and systematic reviews. We wish her great success in her new position!

The National Library of Medicine’s traveling exhibit "Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health" will be in the Weise Gallery from September 28, 2009 through November 6, 2009.

On Monday, October 12, 2009 an event will be held to complement the exhibit. The theme of the event is "Students on the Ground: Highlighting UMB Global Health Experiences." Guest speakers Caroline Orwenyo, Irene Ekwede, Melanie Coffman, Ihuoma Ezebuihe, and Florence Nwoga will present on the School of Nursing Global Health Certificate program and their field experience with UMB’s Institute for Human Virology in Nigeria.

The presentation will be held at 1:00p.m. in the HS/HSL Distance Education Room, located on the Library’s Lower Level, Room LL02. A reception will follow in the 1st Floor Weise Gallery. RSVP by email with subject line "Against the Odds" by October 7, 2009

Activities for this event are co-sponsored by the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, School of Nursing Office of Global Health, and the Nurses for Global Health.

For more information about exhibits at the Library, please visit the Weise Gallery web page or call 410.706.8853.

IT and Reference staff at the Library have created an original application called Quick Help that allows us to expand reference service throughout the library building. Patrons using public computers on floors one through five of the Library can request assistance simply by clicking on the Quick Help icon. Once help is requested, an alert message containing the number/location of the computer from which the request originated appears on all Reference computers and a staff member responds by reporting to that location to provide in-person assistance.

In a 190,000 square foot library building, Quick Help has allowed us to offer convenient help to our in-house "remote" users. As opposed to other types of remote assistance, such as instant messaging and e-mail, Quick Help has proved uniquely useful for printing problems and software troubleshooting.

If you are interested in using Quick Help in your library, or if you have questions about Quick Help, contact Alexa Mayo.

National Medical Librarians Month

October is National Medical Librarians Month! The HS/HSL will be hosting an afternoon reception with refreshments. The date is yet to be determined, but be sure to check our web site for an announcement.

Open Access Week – October 19-23, 2009

SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and Students for FreeCulture have declared October 19-23 the first international Open Access Week. Libraries, universities, and student groups around the world will be participating to raise awareness of open access publishing and its goal of promoting scientific advancement and cultural enrichment through the free exchange of information and ideas.

For more information and news about the open access movement, check out the article "5 Major Research Universities Endorse Open-Access Journals" from the Chronicle of Higher Education or visit the Open Access Week web site.

After the Library’s Tower Café closed this summer to make way for the new eateries in the Campus Center, crews began renovating the vacated space for other uses. Now, with the renovation complete, the 1st floor of the Library’s tower has been transformed into a lounge area with comfortable couches and candy-striped chairs. The high-ceilinged room is encircled by soaring windows that let in plenty of natural light while offering great views of the busy corner of Lombard and Greene Streets and of historic Davidge Hall. The Tower Lounge also features beverage and snack vending machines, café tables, a microwave oven, and a toaster. Come take a study break, eat your lunch, or just relax.