Who are the HS/HSL’s users? The easy answer is the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. But probing deeper, the answer becomes much more complex as the Library’s impact reaches beyond our walls and our campus community. On our campus, our services and resources support efforts at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) and the VA Hospital as UMB faculty serve those institutions. Beyond the campus, our health information outreach extends across the state through exhibits, programs, and our Maryland Health → GoLocal web site.

People are often surprised when I tell them we receive no financial support from UMMC or from campus indirect cost allocations, other than our own contracts. Often the comment I receive is, "How can a major academic health center and research institution exist without a strong, sustained information base?" I would agree. And those of you who have known me for a long time know that I can have extensive conversations on this topic.

Who are our users, what are they using, for what purpose? In the old days, we surveyed people as they physically came to the Library. In today’s online information community our users continue to use the Library building but also access many of our services and most of our resources electronically. In order to make good data-driven decisions regarding the allocation of our sparse financial resources, we need to use an assessment tool that can provide that information.

We are in the process of procuring the services of a nationally recognized expert on these types of assessments. Later this fall we will begin applying the assessment tool. This survey will encompass both physical and virtual entrances to the library and its services and resources. The survey will take place over the course of a year and, yes, I expect it will be annoying and redundant at times. However, the results of the study are very important to future directions and support of the library. We were delighted with the input we received from the LibQual+ service improvement survey we did in spring 2007. We know we can count on you to support this new endeavor.

About 7.5% of the Library’s expenditures for research materials go towards books. Books remain a vital part of the research process and they are starting to make the transition towards online availability that journals did over the last decade. While researchers routinely visit the Library and leave with books in hand, the eBooks we make available online through MDConsult and Stat!Ref are growing increasingly popular with our users.

This year Springer, one the world’s best publisher of scientific, technical and medical literature, cut a deal with libraries across the country, offering them easy and relatively inexpensive access to its online collection of books. We reviewed the content and were hooked!

UMB community members now have access to more than 2,300 eBooks in the biomedical and life sciences, behavioral sciences, and medicine published by Springer within the last four years. More are coming.Titles include monographic series that many of you use, including Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, Advances in Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology and Topics in Current Genetics.

For more information about Springer eBooks, contact Eric Rector, Head, Collections Management, or your subject liaison.

Did you know that each school has its own Library Liaison, a faculty librarian who fosters communication between a school and the HS/HSL? Your liaison brings a personal component to your relationship with the Library by representing you and your school to the HS/HSL and representing the Library to you.

Liaisons provide class-related instruction and orientation sessions to the departments and programs within UMB; share current information regarding Library programs, resources and services; support teaching, clinical, and research needs; assist with collection development for individual schools; and work collaboratively with the campus community and throughout Maryland to provide community-based health information outreach.

Below is a list of the schools and names of their Library liaisons. Click the link to find information about each liaison, including her photo and contact information.

The Library is pleased to announce that, as of January, 2009, UMB researchers will have online access to every Sage journal currently available through the Sage Premium package. In addition to the 53 journals the Library already receives, the package includes over 80 journals in health, nursing, medicine and the life sciences, 27 titles in psychology, psychiatry and counseling, and 35 journals in sociology, social work and social policy. In total, researchers will have online access to 435 new titles, over 70 of which have been requested through interlibrary loan in the last year, and 19 of which have been requested at least four times in the last year.

Among the new journals are titles requested by UMB users. They are: Action Research; Biological Research for Nursing; Journal of Mixed Methods Research; Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice; Qualitative Inquiry; and Qualitative Social Work. All Sage titles will be available online only, though some titles may be added back as part of the core print collection in 2010.

In January 2009, 29 other journals will also be available online. Once these titles are added the Library will be very close to achieving its goal of 100% of all current journal subscriptions being available online. Four other titles are switching publishers and will only be available online in 2009. Once these titles are added the Library will be very close to achieving its goal of 100% of all current journal subscriptions being available online.

If you have questions or comments about the Library’s journal subscriptions, please contact Eric Rector, Head, Collections Management. If you wish to recommend a book or journal or digital resource for purchase, please use our Recommendation Form.

Auto Alert Service

Want to get current literature updates on a particular topic? Meet with a librarian to set up an auto alert search. With this service, you and a librarian will formulate a search strategy, set up the search in databases of your choosing, and create an email or RSS alert with the latest journal citations on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This service is free to all faculty, students, and staff. Request an auto alert search.

Literature Search Service

Reference librarians provide computerized literature searches in over 500 databases. These mediated searches are completed within 24 hours of the request. Results will include full citations and abstracts, when available. This service is available for a fee to UMB faculty, staff and affiliates. Request a literature search.

Looking for space to work with colleagues on a project or for faster wireless connections? Good news! The HS/HSL is upgrading seven, second floor study rooms to accommodate collaboration. The Library is mounting 37" and 42" LCD panels and replacing tables in rooms 214 – 220. The tables will be outfitted with power and a VGA cable to connect your laptop to the wall-mounted LCD. Viewing work on the larger screen should make it easier and more effective for groups to collaborate on presentations and projects.

The collaborative study rooms will be limited to groups working together. The Library is developing a simple sign-up mechanism for groups to schedule the rooms. The upgrades were made possible through the generous support of a private donation to the University of Maryland, Baltimore Foundation and should be completed in October 2008.

Additionally, the Library is working with the Center for Information Technology Services to upgrade the wireless connectivity in the building. Connection speed and capacity are being improved. As part of a plan for seamless wireless access across the Campus, users will be able to sign on to the wireless network with their myUMB credentials and move between UMB buildings without the need to authenticate again. Non-UMB users will be able to access non-secure wireless in some areas of the Library.

The HS/HSL offers a warm welcome to Student Accounting, the Office of the Registrar, the Office of International Services, and the Student Financial Aid Office as they relocate to 601 West Lombard.

These student services are relocating to the Library’s second floor on September 23; they may have partial or full day closures September 22-24. For information on hours and relocation closings, please check with the specific departments. Stop by in the coming weeks to say, "Hello!" to them in their new offices.

Although we expect noise in the building around their move-in date, it signifies the end of the year-long Library renovation. Thank you for your patience as we spruced up the building for colleagues and to improve collaborative and study space.

The HS/HSL is offering a full schedule of free workshops this semester to all UMB faculty, staff and students; UMMC staff; HS/HSL Resources Plus! Members; and HS/HSL Corporate Members. Brush up on your RefWorks, MEDLINE, or CINAHL skills, or try out one of our new workshops, such as Searching the Health Literature or Maryland Health Statistics. The new and improved Library Workshops web page now includes links to tutorials and handouts and a calendar view option that allows you to see all the available workshops in a given month. For detailed course descriptions and online registration, visit the Library Workshops page.

Thanks to 160 UMB faculty who participated in the HS/HSL’s Core Print survey. We greatly appreciate your thoughtful responses and comments.

Of the 160 respondents, approximately 56% of the respondents were from the SOM, 12% from the SON, 8% from DS, 6% from the SSW, 3% from the SOP and 15% from other/unknown.

The question "If the Library lost access to online journals for more than a day during an emergency situation, what journals would you need to perform your duties?" resulted in responses ranging from "none" to lists of ten or more journals, and will require a thorough evaluation.

Responses to questions three and four reflect the importance of online access to UMB journal subscriptions, but also indicate a continuing respect for retention of print journals by the Library. Nearly 82% of respondents were comfortable or somewhat comfortable with online only access to journals.

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Of the 160 respondents, 82 offered additional comments or questions which will be evaluated over the next few weeks. A cursory review of the comments indicates that expanded access to digital backfiles is important to many of you.

HS/HSL Fall Hours

Building entrance after 8:00pm is limited to current: UMB faculty, staff and students, UMB corporate and borrowing members; UMMC, UPI and VA staff; USMAI faculty, staff and students; JHMI faculty and students. Valid ID required.

Exceptions to our Fall Schedule:

"Positive Exposure, the Spirit of Difference"
September 1, 2008 – October 31, 2008

"Positive Exposure" by Rick Guidotti will be on display in the Gallery through the end of October. Don’t miss the exciting exhibit which combines genetics and medicine with photography. He brings together the beauty of genetic differences with photography. Guidotti’s exhibit challenges the stigma associated with difference by celebrating the beauty and richness of human diversity. His photography reflects his passion and support for genetic differences, highlighting a large number of genetic conditions including Albinism, Chromosome 13 & 18, Fragile X, 22 Q Deletion Syndrome, Sturge-Weber Syndrome and many others. For more information about the exhibit visit the HS/HSL Weise Gallery.

October is National Medical Librarians Month! The HS/HSL will be celebrating with coffee, bagels, and muffins at our Annual Student Breakfast. The date is yet to be determined, but be sure to check our web site for an announcement.

SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and Students for FreeCulture have declared October 14, 2008 the first international Open Access Day. Libraries 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. Check our web site next month to see how the HS/HSL is getting involved.

In response to a recent question, Historical Librarian Rich Behles researched the symbolism of the UMB campus seal. Derived from the reverse side of the Great Seal of Maryland, the campus icon features a colonial farmer with a shovel and a fisherman holding his catch, both flanking the Calvert family crest. As archetypes, the farmer symbolizes the agricultural character of Maryland, and the fisherman represents the fishing traditions of Newfoundland.

In 1620, George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, bought a portion of Newfoundland as his first foray into the colonization efforts in English North America. In 1623, Calvert expanded his enterprise, securing a patent to the whole of Newfoundland and establishing a charter for the province of Avalon. That charter was the model for the one he later composed when paving the way for the colonization of Maryland. Because Calvert died before actually settling here, his eldest son and heir, Cecil, assumed the mantle of the second Lord Baltimore and actually founded Maryland.

Cecil Calvert devised the first seal in 1648. There were several changes through the years until the state readopted that original in 1874.