Building, Money & Announcement!

4th floor progress

Workers from Facilities Management have almost finished clearing out the old dividers on the fourth floor.  Work was stopped during the exam study period.  I think the room already looks more inviting. The new study furniture for the floor was ordered this week.  We are waiting for a confirmation from the vendor to find out when it will be delivered.  I expect it to arrive in late January.  We hope to have a small ribbon cutting in early February.

Budget

No real news to report yet.  However, as I mentioned at the All Staff meeting, the Library Administrative office staff and Collection Services all contributed to putting together a notebook of budget information for the University Administration.  Yesterday Cindy, Anoma Phanthourath and I met with three of the senior financial officers of the university to discuss strategies for improving our budget situation.  Although they could not provide immediate answers they were very open to our presentation and promised some action in the next month or two.  We are “cautiously optimistic”.

Promotion!

Many of you remember Sandra Martin who visited us for several weeks a few years ago.  Sandra was participating in the National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Fellows program.  Sandra has just been appointed Director of the Shiffman Medical Library at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Webinar, 4th Floor, Food!

AHSL broadcasts to the world – well the region

On Wednesday Annabelle, Jennifer, Ahlam and I presented a webinar sponsored by the Pacific Southwest Regional Library of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.  Our presentation was titled, “Embedded Librarians at the Arizona Health Sciences Library” and was intended to describe our efforts in the Colleges of Public Health, Pharmacy and Nursing to other librarians in the Southwest.  The talk was well received and we had a lot of questions after we finished.  You can hear us and watch our slides at: 

http://nnlm.gov/psr/services/webmeeting/archives.html

4th Floor

Our new furniture for the 4th floor won’t be arriving until late January or early February.  However, beginning on January 2nd we will post a sign that says the 4th floor is for the use of AHSC students only.  We hope that this will help with the noise level up there in the evenings.

Thanks to all for the Thanksgiving goodies!

It sounds like the potluck was a great success.  Thanks to everyone who contributed!  I’m sorry that Jeanette and I couldn’t attend.  We had a luncheon meeting that we couldn’t miss.

Author! :-) Flood :-(

Congratulations Carol

Carol is the co-author on a paper recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.  The article is titled, “Medical decision-making for older adults without family” and proposes a new type of professional – a health fiduciary – who would be “trained and certified to act as a surrogate decision-maker for individuals who are unable to make decisions for themselves.”

Hurricane Sandy

Here is an email the Neil Rambo, library director at New York University Medical Center, sent to other health sciences library directors last Friday.

“Hi all. I know many of you have been wondering what in the world is going on at NYU in light of Hurricane Sandy that swept through our area on Monday night. The big story is, essentially, that the storm surge was 14 ft. That's a lot of angry water and about 3 ft beyond the maximum that had been forecast. The surge knocked out back-up generators and flooded the lower levels throughout the medical center. The lower level of the library is one of those that was flooded, to the ceiling. That's where our onsite print collection was shelved and many of our faculty and staff work areas were located. It remains completely submerged today even though emergency pumps are working 24/7. The level above that — the main library area — was flooded by about 1-2 ft of water, moving heavy objects around in a pattern indicating a dramatic surge.

All medical center power and network infrastructure has been knocked out. Twice in a little more than a year, all patients were evacuated in very short order. Research samples are being carted out from labs en masse to freezer trucks surrounding the medical center. Recovery is becoming more organized and picking up speed.

Medical center email and basic web services have recently been restored. We hope that rudimentary online library resources will be available in a few days. Our tremendous library faculty and staff are eager to re-establish service from off-site or wherever and we are pulling together to begin planning a very positive way forward. In the meantime, the NN/LM MAR is graciously providing back-up clinical reference and document delivery service.

Sorry not to be joining you all in San Francisco. As I know you will understand, we've got a lot to do here and the next few days will be particularly important. Thanks for your good thoughts. We will come through this in great shape.

Best,

Neil”

On the walls

Sometime in the next month or two the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) will be installing some nice posters along the north wall of the first floor hallway.  The posters will highlight their activities and accomplishments.  Dr. Ron Weinstein, Director of the ATP, has offered to defray part of the cost of a matching set on the south wall that would highlight the library.  We are looking into this idea!

Ups and Downs

Elevators

Elevator #1 (on the left as you face them) has now been upgraded, refurbished and inspected.  

Elevator #2 and the buttons are still being worked on but should be finished soon!

Budget and Study Space

Budget

Several weeks ago we received notification of our budget cuts for the year.  I reported this to you in the August 31 update.  I worked with the Provost’s office to make a case for a lower cut but was unsuccessful.  However, we will be able to take the cut this year without harm to our personnel or collections budgets.  I am covering the cut with funds we would normally use for renovation, painting, repairs, etc. (not all of the funds, but most of them) and with “salary savings” that occur when we get grants or have alternative funding for positions.  However, our budget situation for next year is very dire as we have used up all of our reserve funds from endowments, gifts, etc.   I will continue to work with the Provost, the President and the University Libraries to find a solution to next year’s (and future years’) budgets.

Fourth Floor

There continues to be a lot of talk and no action on the fourth floor.  I will be meeting with Dean Goldschmid, COM Deputy Dean for Education, Kevin Moynahan, Angie Souza, AHSC Facilities Management and Anoma Phanthourath, Provost Representative on November 8 to try to find a resolution.  Our goal is to place study carrels on the floor in place of the tables and chairs and dividers.

Yamila's latest trip

Yamila leads panel discussion

Last week Yamila attended the 2nd National Joint Meeting of Librarians of Color in Kansas City, MO.  She participated in (and at the last minute was asked to facilitate) a panel discussion titled, “Focus on Minority Health: Initiatives and Challenges to Accessing Health Information.”  Other panelists included representatives from Pima Community College, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Department of Health and Human Services. Yamila’s presentation was very well received and she has been getting many requests for her slides.