ConnectMidwest tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4 2008-08-28T18:10:46Z A blog for and by Midwest Chapter/MLA members Where people and ideas mix and mingle! Movable Type Personal 4.1 Be an Early Bird tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.330 2008-08-28T17:49:34Z 2008-08-28T18:10:46Z The "early bird" registration deadline for the 2008 Midwest MLA/MHSLA Conference is September 1st -- that's Monday! You save $50! Registration information is here on the conference website. You can register online here.... Clare Leibfarth bird.JPG ]]> Election 2008 tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.315 2008-08-22T18:25:10Z 2008-08-22T18:39:06Z As you are watching the Democrats and Republicans gear up for their conventions, don't forget to vote in the Midwest Chapter 2008-2009 officer races. Click on this link for a copy of the official ballot and biographical information for each... Clare Leibfarth this link for a copy of the official ballot and biographical information for each candidate! Ballots must be received by Friday, September 5, 2008. You can fax, mail, or e-mail (with attachment) your ballot to Immediate Past President Chris Shaffer: 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd.-LIB Portland, OR 97239-3098 ph: 503-494-6057 e-mail: shafferc AT ohsu.edu fax: 503-494-3227 ]]> AHIP Update tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.314 2008-08-22T17:39:17Z 2008-08-22T18:05:39Z Sharon Kambeitz, our Midwest Chapter AHIP Representative sends this along: Please note the following message from the AHIP Credentialing Committee of the Medical Library Association. This may be good news for the librarian selectors for Doody's Core Titles who are... Clare Leibfarth Sharon Kambeitz, our Midwest Chapter AHIP Representative sends this along: Please note the following message from the AHIP Credentialing Committee of the Medical Library Association. This may be good news for the librarian selectors for Doody's Core Titles who are earning points toward their AHIP credentialing or rewewal credentialing. An individual may receive 3 AHIP points for each book review they author; this is an activity which was already included in the AHIP Point Index, under the Authoring section, II.B.: Authoring Clarification for all journal articles: Letters to the editor do not count as publications. Peer-reviewed Journal Research article author (three or fewer): 25 points Research article author (four or more): 15 points Brief article, column, review author (three or fewer): 10 points Brief article, column, review author (four or more): 6 points Book or media review author: 3 points Documentation required: Copy of pages indicating that journal is peer-reviewed (this is not required for library science journals), copy of title page of journal, and a copy of the title page of the article. Clarification: Articles published in the Brief Communications section of the JMLA are brief articles. Articles in similar sections of other peer-reviewed journals would also be considered brief articles. Clarification: Although Medical Reference Services Quarterly is not peer-reviewed, it does have an editorial board. Because of the quality of the journal, it is considered peer-reviewed for the purpose of awarding academy points. The committee further recommended that individuals acting as Librarian Selectors may be eligible for 3 AHIP points per year for this activity. This change was reflected in the online Point Index, Section II.B., as indicated below: Commercially Published Books and Materials This category includes directories, indexes and bibliographies. Single author/editor: 50 points Author/editor (two or three): 25 points Author/editor (four or more): 20 points Author of chapter (three or fewer): 15 points Author of chapter (four or more): 8 points Librarian Selector (i.e. Doody's): 3 points per year Documentation Required: Copy of letter of agreement or letter of acknowledgment for librarian selector. The AHIP Point Index is accessible online at mlanet.org. Please feel free to share this update with those involved, and if you have any questions, please contact the Medical Library Association, Credentialing Office. ]]> Moving a Library tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.313 2008-08-16T18:24:43Z 2008-08-16T18:34:29Z What has your intrepid blog editor been doing lately? It has been a month since she last posted here. Well, she's been preparing to move the hospital library, that's what! Last week, we put the library in a van... Clare Leibfarth Packed.JPG Last week, we put the library in a van and took it across town. It was quite an adventure for our friendly library skeleton! Moving.JPG And in case you ever wondered, it takes at least six college guys on summer vacation to assemble library shelving... Assembly.JPG Packing the print journal collection was easy with these carts! Journals.JPG ]]> PubMed Search Clinic tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.312 2008-07-17T18:50:33Z 2008-07-17T19:10:47Z Did you connect to the PubMed Search Clinic this afternoon? I didn't even need to use my phone this time around. The VoIP worked nicely. It was definitely worth the time! It saved me all that time that it would... Clare Leibfarth PubMed Search Clinic this afternoon? I didn't even need to use my phone this time around. The VoIP worked nicely. It was definitely worth the time! It saved me all that time that it would have taken me to "experiment" and figure out how things worked. Somehow I haven't had the time to try out that beta Advanced Search. So, thank you NLM for the update! SearchClinic.JPG And seriously, just a few minutes before the session, I tried to show one of our residents how to use the Single Citation Matcher with our PubMed LinkOut to locate citations to see if they are available in our collection or to link through to fulltext. And his eyes just glazed over. I think that citation sensor would have been much simpler for him. ]]> Flooding on Flickr tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.311 2008-07-10T17:42:33Z 2008-07-10T18:02:00Z I get Hardin News in my Bloglines account. They posted yesterday that the Main Library at the University of Iowa is open for business again. The UI News Service has been posting photos on Flickr of the flooding (including great... Clare Leibfarth Hardin News in my Bloglines account. They posted yesterday that the Main Library at the University of Iowa is open for business again. The UI News Service has been posting photos on Flickr of the flooding (including great aerial shots) and campus recovery efforts. Here are the photos of the students moving the Special Collections materials hand to hand to higher ground.]]> LinkedIn tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.310 2008-07-10T17:29:08Z 2008-07-10T17:42:17Z Brandi Tuttle sent this along: Are you ready to join the latest evolution of MLA? I thought MLA should be on LinkedIn since we already have a Facebook account. So I made a space for us there! Joining will allow... Clare Leibfarth
Are you ready to join the latest evolution of MLA?
I thought MLA should be on LinkedIn since we already have a Facebook account. So I made a space for us there! Joining will allow you to find and contact other MLA members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help members:
  • Reach other members of MLA
  • Accelerate careers through referrals from MLA Group members
  • Know more than a name - view rich professional profiles from fellow MLA Group members
Here’s the link to join! "LinkedIn is an online network of more than 20 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments.Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals." Just think of LinkedIn as a professional version of MySpace or Facebook. Many librarians and information professionals are already on LinkedIn. Hope to see you in the group!]]> Midwest Innovators Wanted tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.309 2008-07-03T14:37:38Z 2008-07-03T14:47:36Z Sheryl Stevens, our chapter Awards & Scholarships Committee chair, sends this along: The Midwest Chapter/MLA Awards & Scholarships Committee is seeking nominations for the Chapter's 2008 Jean Williams Sayre Innovation Award. This award is intended to recognize individuals, groups, libraries,... Clare Leibfarth Sheryl Stevens, our chapter Awards & Scholarships Committee chair, sends this along: The Midwest Chapter/MLA Awards & Scholarships Committee is seeking nominations for the Chapter's 2008 Jean Williams Sayre Innovation Award. This award is intended to recognize individuals, groups, libraries, or organizations for their creative approaches to delivering and/or managing health information. It includes a cash prize of $500. Please take a few minutes to think about some of the projects you and/or your colleagues have recently initiated, participated in, or are currently involved with. What about that project or accomplishment you described (or will be describing) in a paper or poster presentation at a conference? You've done the hard part already -- filling out our nomination form is easy compared to that! You can find additional information about the Innovation Award at: http://midwestmla.org/committees/awards/2008/Innovation%20Award%202008.pdf. The nomination form is at: http://midwestmla.org/committees/awards/2008/Innovation%20Award%20Nomination%20Form%202008.pdf. The application deadline is August 18, 2008. Thanks for considering this. Please give our committee the opportunity to acknowledge your creativity and accomplishments! The winner will be announced during at the Chapter’s Annual Business Meeting on October 20, 2008, at the Detroit Marriott Hotel in Troy, Michigan. ]]> PubMed, LinkOut, SERHOLD and More tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.308 2008-06-22T23:27:18Z 2008-06-23T00:44:06Z Wow, your intrepid blog editor has been busy lately! I'm preparing to move the hospital library to a different campus across town. It has been a great opportunity to evaluate the entire collection, moving only that which meets the current... Clare Leibfarth move the hospital library to a different campus across town. It has been a great opportunity to evaluate the entire collection, moving only that which meets the current needs of the library users. You know how "stuff" kind of accumulates. I last did this kind of a radical house cleaning when the current library space was remodeled in 1997 with a wonderfully generous contribution from a local business executive and his wife. So I have over a decade of "stuff" to sort out! Since the library will be moving to smaller digs, I have had to do some rather siginficant de-selection in the print journal backfiles. Many of the titles are now on PubMed Central or are free online. So deciding to remove those from the collection was a no-brainer. Some of the other decisions have been more difficult. One grows attached to one's collection! What to do with the no longer needed journals? A local recycler will take them. So I've moved many cubic yards of materials out of the library, across the parking lot, and into the semi sized recycling trailer. Who says librarianship is not hard work! OK, so what does this have to do with PubMed, LinkOut, and SERHOLD? One thing that I've realized in this process is how much I rely on NLM services in providing service to my library's patrons. PubMed LinkOut is the greatest thing since sliced bread in my book. It is the easiest way to let my library patrons know which articles are available through the library, either in print or online. The library's budget cannot support a fancy ILS. Who can afford a link resolver? The library's master print serials holding list is on SERHOLD. Why mess around developing some spreadsheet or database for this? My wonderful library volunteer Shirley uses old-fashoned check-in cards to keep track of current subscription receipts. When I need to know if the library has an article in print or online, I use PubMed to check. I print out a serials list every once in a while by requesting a DOCLINE holdings report for use in an emergency only and as a print copy of the library's journal inventory. On Friday, I began the so exciting task of updating nearly every one of the library's SERHOLD title records. So as you might guess, I've been following closely the current flurry of discussion about PubMed on MEDLIB. For my library, PubMed is mission critical. There may be search interfaces for MEDLINE, but purchasing access for my library is out of the question. Even small changes in PubMed have a significant impact on how I provide library services. I was happy to see other librarians sharing my latest PubMed pet peeve on Friday. IMHO, eliminating the blue sidebar from search results displays was a poor decision. The most useful tools for searching PubMed simply are not available when they are needed. For example, it is difficult to try a MeSH search after your newly revised automatic term mapping search gives you a poor result. ]]> Library Uses for Twitter tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.307 2008-06-10T13:07:00Z 2008-06-10T14:18:17Z I haven't been completely convinced of the wonders of Twitter. However, the Chronicle's Wired Campus Newsletter had a blurb on libraries using Twitter and a link to this blog entry from College at Home: Twitter for Librarians: The Ultimate Guide.... Mary Markland Twitter. However, the Chronicle's Wired Campus Newsletter had a blurb on libraries using Twitter and a link to this blog entry from College at Home: Twitter for Librarians: The Ultimate Guide. Maybe I'll have to give it some more thought....]]> MLA 2008 Flickr Group tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.306 2008-05-16T14:57:31Z 2008-05-16T15:21:38Z We had so much fun with Flickr at the Omaha meeting. I'm glad that MLA is encouraging people to post meeting photos to Flickr to share meeting photos. They've set up the MLA 2008 Flickr Group. There are 11 members... Clare Leibfarth Flickr at the Omaha meeting. I'm glad that MLA is encouraging people to post meeting photos to Flickr to share meeting photos. They've set up the MLA 2008 Flickr Group. There are 11 members so far. I'm looking forward to the fun. MLA has their photo gallery up and running with 2008 meeting photos. This morning they added some photos from yesterday. MLA President and photographer extraordinarie Mark Funk is already out and about with his camera!]]> MLA '08 Plenary Webcast tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.305 2008-05-15T14:31:47Z 2008-05-15T14:52:22Z I might not be going to Chicago for MLA, but I can watch on my computer here at work. I have already signed up for the MLA '08 Plenary Webcast “Web 2.0 Tools for Librarians: Description, Demonstration, Discussion, and Debate.”... Clare Leibfarth Chicago for MLA, but I can watch on my computer here at work. I have already signed up for the MLA '08 Plenary Webcast “Web 2.0 Tools for Librarians: Description, Demonstration, Discussion, and Debate.” To register, all you need is your handy-dandy MLA members only area username and password. What is really great about this is that two of the scheduled presenters are Midwest Chapter members!
  • Carol Jeuell, Reference Librarian, Brennemann Library, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago
  • Melissa Rethlefsen, Education Technology Librarian, Learning Resource Center, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Midwest rocks!]]> MLA Vicariously tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.304 2008-05-14T10:48:48Z 2008-05-14T13:55:51Z The midwest is hosting MLA in Chicago this year. Unfortunately, your intrepid blog editor will not be attending. [Insert frowny face here.] But this is no problem! I can read all about it in my feed reader! Of course, there... Clare Leibfarth MLA in Chicago this year. Unfortunately, your intrepid blog editor will not be attending. [Insert frowny face here.] But this is no problem! I can read all about it in my feed reader! Of course, there is the official MLA '08 Blog itself. Lately, the entries have been posted by the Local Assistance Committee Publicity Subcommittee. Nice to see all those Midwest Chapter members contributing! learn_more.jpg As I am sure you know by now, MLA held a little contest and chose 10 Official MLA Bloggers. The bloggers will enjoy free wireless internet access at MLA. And it looks like we are going to get some great coverage. The National Program Committee's Conference Wiki has a blog schedule page where the bloggers are signing up to cover specific parts of the conference program. You can also sign up for a digest or RSS feed of the bloggers' posts. Right now, there doesn't seem to be much else on the wiki except advertisements. But this is even better: I have been using David Rothman's Yahoo! Pipes feed to monitor the Official MLA Blogger posts. It works well! Thank you David! Attention Midwest Chapter Members attending MLA: please consider sharing YOUR insights, experiences, and photos here on ConnectMidwest. Contact me and I'll show you how! And remember to tag any blog posts and photos with mla2008. ]]> Second Life Library Programs and Outreach tag:midwestmla.org,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.303 2008-05-06T13:39:19Z 2008-05-06T14:13:48Z In last summer's issue, MIDLINE featured an article by Carol Perryman about the Alliance Library System's project "Providing Consumer Health Outreach and Library Programs to Virtual World Residents in Second Life." Funding for the project was provided by the NN/LM... Clare Leibfarth MIDLINE featured an article by Carol Perryman about the Alliance Library System's project "Providing Consumer Health Outreach and Library Programs to Virtual World Residents in Second Life." Funding for the project was provided by the NN/LM Greater Midwest Region. Yesterday, she announced the publication of the project's final report on MEDLIB-L. The report is 46 pages with lots of illustrations. And well worth the read! A lot of real people were served (via their avatars) by the project with displays, workshops and presentations, support group meetings, and even by answering old-fashioned reference questions. I had no idea! Clearly, an important need is being served. P.S. Did you know that the way a person's avatar looks can affect real life behavior? I picked up this All Things Considered story in my feed reader last week. And I quote: "If you want to get thin, get a virtual life." It is called vicarious reinforcement. An interesting approach to weight loss!]]> Any podcasts on YOUR iPod? tag:65.181.189.143,2008:/ConnectMidwest//4.279 2008-04-30T21:17:49Z 2008-04-30T22:41:15Z Karen and I were talking about this today... What is on your iPod? Do you subscribe to any podcasts? Do you download any library related content? Answer these questions and share your thoughts concerning podcasting and libraries by clicking on... Clare Leibfarth What is on your iPod? Do you subscribe to any podcasts? Do you download any library related content? Answer these questions and share your thoughts concerning podcasting and libraries by clicking on the Comments link just down there at the end of this post. Inquiring minds want to know! Really! I must confess that at this point I am still an iPod novice user. I subscribe to a number of podcasts through iTunes and sync my cute little Nano weekly. Most of my subscriptions are for public radio programs, my current favorite being Selected Shorts. I'm just realizing that there is a whole new world out there with so much stuff that I can download. When collegian son comes home next week for the summer, I am going to have to ask him to show me how to download things into that amazing little toy without going through iTunes. Even a quick search on iTunes leads one to much interesting library programming. Anyone out there subscribe to the MedlinePlus: NLM Director's Comments? This week's program features "Marijuana and Gum Disease." I'm going to try the the University of Arizona SIRLS podcasts and Arizona State University's Library Channel. Any other suggestions? Are any of your libraries providing podcasts online? ]]>