Space Committee, Goals, Meetings

Space Committee
The Advisory Committee on Library Space met on Monday afternoon. All of the AHSC Colleges were represented. This first meeting provided background information on the current uses of the library building, the recent history of the building and some thoughts about the future. There were good questions from committee members and everyone is compiling a list of things that they like and dislike about the building and preliminary suggestions for the future. Our next meeting is in early December.

2010 Goals
The Administrative Team has been working on defining library wide goals for the coming calendar year. Some of the overarching goals relate to creating and implementing a communications plan, a staffing plan, and a plan to educate faculty and to support new models of scholarly communication. Some of the other, more focused, goals range from working on an archive of the history of the Phoenix campus to working on a Code of Conduct to long-range budget planning. We hope to have a final version of these goals completed as soon as possible.

Meetings
Jeanette and I will be attending the annual meeting of the AAMC (Assn. of American Medical Colleges) and AAHSL (Assn. of Academic Health Sciences Libraries) in Boston over the next several days. Jeanette is on the AAHSL Statistics Committee and we’ll both be connecting with colleagues, exchanging ideas and getting better insight into the issues facing medical schools.

Jennifer M, PR, book signing

Welcome back Jennifer
Please join me in welcoming Jennifer Martin back to full-time work in the library and the College of Pharmacy. Jennifer has been working part-time from home but we’re glad to have her back among us!

The Library Minute
We recently discovered ASU’s series of one-minute videos promoting their library. The intent of these short announcements is not to teach users in depth, but just to introduce them to library resources. As we look at promoting the library in the coming year, something like this might fit into our plans. We will be working with Biomedical Communications to produce a sample video for AHSL so that we can learn how much time it takes to write a script and produce the video. You can see a sample from ASU at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ASU#p/search/0/DcwC1Q_krS0

You can see a more comprehensive list of their videos at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ASU#g/u

Book signing
Please try to attend the “Meet the Authors” event in the library from 3:30-4:30 PM on Friday, November 6. Former COM Dean James Dalen, MD, MPH and Linda Valdez along with the family of founding COM Dean Merlin K. DuVal will be celebrating the release of two new books. “University Hospitals: Doctors and Patients” and “A Doctor’s Legacy; A Memoir of Merlin K. DuVal, Founding Dean of Arizona’s First Medical School” have just been released. Please make the authors and those attending feel welcome in the library.

Research support, Harmony

AHSL support for research
Many of you know that we have been distributing surveys as part of a campus wide project to determine the support that various units give to research. This process lasts a full year but we just heard that, during the first quarter, 82% of our surveys were returned (that’s an excellent return rate.) In addition, 27% of AHSL use was in support of funded research. This is a measure of our value to the campus and is also an excellent number.

Recognition for our “artists”
The 2009 issue of Harmony, the humanities magazine of the College of Medicine has been issued. The library is well represented. Jennifer Lee has three poems in this issue, Tessie has three photographs, Gary has one photograph and Stef Walz has a piece of visual art. Take a look if you can find a copy of the magazine. All of the contributors have copies.

Health Literacy Display

Pat Auflick has coordinated the development a poster for Health Literacy Month. Others involved include Tessie, Ramona Romandia, Mary Riordan, Annabelle, Jeanette, Joan, Yamila El-khayat and Nga. Take a look at this attractive and informative display on the bulletin board near the public computers. There is a test you can take to see if you are information literate.

Health information in other languages, etc.

Health information in other languages
Mary Riordan has compiled a collection of health topics in a variety of languages common to refugees in the U.S. Links to these documents appear on AZHealthInfo and copies have gone out to many public health and library groups in Arizona. You can see these documents by going to http://azhealthinfo.org, selecting “Local or State” next to Health Topics and then browsing for items such as “Cancer Resources for Refugees”. An example is: http://www.healthinfotranslations.com/pdfDocs/angina-Hindi-Fin.pdf

A few items from the Administrative Team
The “ATeam” is reviewing possible library-wide goals and projects for the coming year. A few of the possibilities are the “space committee”, increased public relations/awareness, working closely with the new Dean in the College of Nursing on her initiatives, review of and possible redesign of the web site and exploring a partnership with the College of Pharmacy and TGen around their recent grant.

On November 6, 2009 the College of Medicine and the University Press will be having a reception in the library for the release of a memoir of Dr. Merlin K. “Monte” DuVal, first Dean of the College of Medicine. Dr. Duval’s family has been invited.

Gary will be in Washington, DC during the week of October 19th to attend the “capstone”/graduation for this year’s class of AAHSL/NLM Leadership Fellows, including Sandra Martin. The week will involve visits to the National Library of Medicine, the NIH library, the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of American Medical Colleges with panel discussions at each site. Sandra is so appreciative of the welcome that she received at AHSL. This will be a proud moment for her and an educational experience for all in attendance.

AHSC Memo Generator

The AHSC Office of Public Affairs has a new tool that makes it easy to design and send AHSC memos.

The AHSC Memo Generator allows you to choose the specific audience you want your memo to be distributed to, with choices ranging from a single building to all of AHSC. There is a general AHSC template that makes it easy to design the memo without knowledge of html. Several departments have developed their own templates with their logos, including AHSL. The AHSL template is set up for events -- another template for memos has been requested.

Appropriate use guidelines are posted at the site. Once you've completed your memo, you must submit it for approval before it can be distributed.

AV Weeding Project

Most of our audio-visual materials are shelved in the compact shelving on the third floor. Many of these items contain old, out-of-date information or are in formats that are rarely, if ever, used these days (slide tape shows for example). We have started a project to review these items and to remove those that have no archival or educational value. Dave will be reviewing these titles and many will be weeded with help from the IS Desk Staff and our shelvers, our Knowledge River students and the Collection Services Department. Dave estimates that as much as 80% of these items will be weeded. We hope to recycle much of the paper and plastic.