Annual Report FY 1997/98 Executive Summary
Planning for the Future
In a year of unprecedented growth, the Health Sciences Center Library (HSCL) has charted a course that looks directly toward the future. Traditional services have begun a transition to more flexible models designed to meet twenty-first century needs. The Library has extended its focus beyond its own walls to reach out into the Health Sciences Center and the state. Collaboration and technology are the tools to help build this new future. The redesign of services has already taken its first crucial steps with the planning for an upgraded technology infrastructure for the Health Sciences Center, with the growth of the systems department, and with the remodel of the building’s interior.
Grants, Contracts, Legislative Initiatives, Partnerships
An Integrated Advanced Information Management System (IAIMS) Planning Grant for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC) has been submitted to the National Library of Medicine. Currently a large percentage of the state’s population is isolated from healthcare services, and information and distance education technologies are underutilized within the state and within the UNMHSC. Few clinical facilities outside of Albuquerque have the ability to effectively access electronic information resources, including those at UNMHSC. The IAIMS grant ($299,540 over two years) will help develop a collaborative, coordinated information technology for the Health Sciences Center and more capability to serve the health community throughout the state.
The "Interactive Medical Information System in New Mexico" (GeoMed) grant from the National Library of Medicine has been completed and documented in a final report. GeoMed is the result of a cooperative effort by the Health Sciences Center Library, Earth Data Analysis Center (EDAC), New Mexico Tumor Registry and the Office of the Medical Investigator. As part of the third and final phase of "Interactive Medical Information System in New Mexico," the GeoMed prototype interface links geographical information with health and medical databases. A web interface has been developed for the analysis and presentation of medical and health related data and geographic data, and a prototype web application has been designed to utilize the spatial component of health data.
The HSCL is in the first year of a three-year contract (year 1 $150,688) with the Indian Health Service (IHS) to develop and implement a web-based Native Health Research Database (NHRD). The new database on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) health contains abstracts of research articles and evaluation studies sponsored by the Indian Health Service. The database currently contains approximately 300 documents (http://nhrd.unm.edu).
A $5,000 grant from the South Central Academic Medical Libraries Consortium (SCAMeL) was awarded to the Chief of Collection Development to investigate editorial peer review practices at approximately 780 US clinical medicine journals. This research will be valuable to clinical physicians, editors, and consumers of medical research articles.
Expanding the role of the HSC Library
New responsibilities for the HSCL Director reflect a change in the direction of the Health Sciences Center Library. In December, 1997, Dr. Buchanan took over management of the Academic and Research Systems in the Health Sciences Center. In addition to providing consolidated systems oversight for the North Campus, these changes enabled the Director to help in the creation and administration of the first electronic classroom for the Health Sciences Center in January, 1998. In June, 1998 Dr. Buchanan was also given responsibility for HSC web development.
Knowledge Management
The Native Health Research Database began development under a contract between the Indian Health Service and the Health Sciences Center Library. The database includes abstracts of published and unpublished research and evaluation studies sponsored by the Indian Health Service on AI/AN health.
Library staff introduced the Health Sciences Center departments to "Web Course in a Box," a software product that helps instructors create online courses for students. The created courses were used in learning centers for students in outreach programs in Portales.
The tables of contents for over 5,000 books in the collection were added to the Library’s online catalog.
The HSC Library linked selected full-text journal articles to searches in OVID (providers of Medline and other medical, nursing, pharmacy, and health databases.)
Deborah Graham, Associate Director for Biomedical Information Services, created an extensive series of web links that cataloged medical and health sites on the web.
Systems Infrastructure
Systems staff ordered and installed upgraded network electronics by adding more repeaters and a new switch. This resulted in greater network reliability and increased network bandwidth.
Systems staff, together with Health Sciences Center Computing staff, assisted in the setup, configuration and installation of software for the Electronic Classroom, including the establishment of policies and procedures. This has resulted in faculty having the availability to instruct in a modern, computer-based environment.
Windows NT was installed on all staff workstations. This has resulted in consistency in operating systems platforms and made troubleshooting much easier.
A service request response strategy called Technical Service Request (TSR) was established. This allows the Systems Group to better monitor, track and respond to service calls from staff and customers.
Remodeling (HSC Library 2000 Project)
The HSCL is remodeling to reflect its emphasis on electronic resources, teaching and learning areas, and enhanced study environments. The project is a three-year undertaking. The Plaza Level will become the center of interactive education, with information professionals available to help students, staff, faculty, and the community with online resources at all times. An electronic classroom, a multi-use teaching lab, and a CPR room are to be added to the Plaza area. Plans are underway for journals, current and bound, to reside on the third floor, together with Collection Resources staff who manage the collections and a self-service copy center housing multiple photocopiers. Books will be moved to the fourth floor.
Contributions to the Strategic Directives
Enhance the Rural Outreach Initiatives
A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 'Partnerships for Training' initiative,
focussing on distance learning using "Web Course in a Box," was undertaken by
the Library in collaboration with the School of Medicine and the College of
Nursing. In addition to creating online courses for the students, the
partnership also agreed to acquire electronic journals and other resources such
as MD Consult. Access to these electronic learning tools will be established for
curriculum-based training in several New Mexico locations, including Portales,
Gallup, and Espanola.
As part of a contract between the Indian Health Service (IHS) and HSCL, the Library provided several demonstrations of the Native Health Research Database (NHRD) at conferences around the country. The purpose of these demonstrations is to alert a wide population from both rural and urban areas to the existence of AI/AN health information on the web.
The HSC Library continued to build collections relevant to the delivery of quality healthcare in rural areas. Selections focussing on primary care, rural health policy, and health care utilization are examples of subjects added to the collection.
The Library supports health professionals throughout New Mexico and the Navajo Nation by filling requests for articles, book and audiovisual loans, and on-site instruction in the use of information technologies, or consulting on local resources. Over 3000 outreach requests were filled during 1997/98. The IHS sponsored a special class on using the Internet to obtain health information; library faculty presented the class in Farmington to over 80 health professionals. The library staff continues to expand, update, and revise the extensive collection of links to useful World Wide Web sites that provide an electronic resource library for New Mexico's health care professionals. Media Center audio and videotapes continue to be a resource for continuing education credits for rural practitioners.
Strengthen and Expand Academic Primary Care to include Pharmacy, Nursing,
Allied Health, etc.
Decisions on additions to the HSC Library collections are strongly linked to new
and existing courses in various academic programs. Collection development
efforts in the HSC Library are coordinated with various academic programs’
curriculum committees, including pharmacy, nursing, allied health, and dental
services, to ensure that adequate information resources will be available to
support the curriculum.
The extensive use of the collection is an indication of the relevance of the collection. The Library’s Chief of Collection Development, Jonathan Eldredge, Ph.D., completed a study in early 1998 of books purchased in 1993. The study revealed that after four years, 84% of those books had been checked out and a total of 91% had been used, reflecting a heavily-used collection.
The Native Health Research Database (NHRD), created under a contract with the IHS in September 1997, covers a diverse range of topics focused on AI/AN health. The approximately 300 NHRD entries provide information on a wide spectrum of health profession issues. The NHRD Program Coordinator has established working relationships with UNM HSC staff from the various health care disciplines.
Through a redistribution of responsibilities, the new position of Education Librarian was established within the Library during the spring of 1998. In addition to increasing specific support to on-campus educational programs, the Education Librarian, Janis Teal, helped develop a special Web site to support the Robert Wood Johnson Partnerships interdisciplinary program. This program places multidisciplinary health sciences students in rural communities for the major part of their education. Using "Web Course in a Box", the Partnerships program is breaking new ground in distance education and electronically delivered instruction.
Preceptors and students from all Health Sciences Center programs who are on rural rotations continue to find traditional services useful, such as the delivery of relevant articles. In addition, UNM preceptors and students in rural communities now have access to the online Core Biomedical Collection, a full text database of 15 major medical journals, and journals identified on the Library's Electronic Journals listing on the World Wide Web. This rapid electronic access may account for the reduction in articles requested through Document Delivery.
The advent of new technologies for ordering articles has led to an increase in the number of "Loansome Docs" who order articles from the Health Sciences Center Library--from an average for many years of 12 to 14 to an all time high of 50. Electronic ordering provides greater convenience for busy practitioners and speeds the delivery of items to them.
The Document Delivery unit has also mastered the newest in article delivery technology: Ariel. Ariel is a system that uses a digital scanner to transmit documents via the Internet, so there are no long distance charges and copy quality is excellent.
Develop a Model Academic Statewide Health Delivery System
The HSC Library staff supported academic programs through assistance with
hospital and departmental accreditation activities. The HSC Library assessed and
documented its full compliance with JCAHO accreditation standards, specifically
Information Management Standard 9 regarding information resources. Dr. Jon
Eldredge developed those aspects relating to compliance regarding HSC Library
collections.
The HSC Library collections were compared to peer institutions in the region as part of budget requests to the Legislature. These comparisons were used to identify statewide standards for health delivery systems. This comparative study described the growing demands placed upon collections due to added HSC programs and increased numbers of faculty and students for existing programs. For example, over a ten-year period the number of registered borrowers increased 219% and use of collections inside the building increased by 70%. Price inflation had decreased library purchasing power in the face of this increased demand, resulting in a low student-to-book ratio of 1.3 new books per student. This ratio placed New Mexico in a fifth of six ranking for regional health sciences libraries. New Mexico also ranked fifth out of six regional health sciences libraries for the size of its book collection, expenditures for new books, and ratio of students to all books in the collection. New Mexico ranked last among regional health sciences libraries for the size of its serials (journals) budget.
The Native Health Research Database provided a unique health research and education resource focused on American Indian and Alaska Native health. Given the relatively significant American Indian population in the state of New Mexico, the NHRD provides a one-of-kind educational resource for the State of New Mexico and the nation. Tom Kauley, Program Coordinator, and Ruth Morris, Associate Director for Collection Resources established and conducted meetings with a Native Health Research Database Workgroup. The Workgroup is comprised of local health professionals representing UNM, IHS, tribal, and health organizations. This Workgroup provides advice and guidance on the purpose and content of the NHRD as well as serving as a promotional resource for contacts with the academic and health professions community.
The new Education Librarian has been charged with developing a comprehensive information skills curriculum that will encompass all Health Sciences Center academic programs. Instructional programs, including those on the use of electronic information resources, were conducted for over 1500 participants. Class offerings have been expanded to include advanced bibliographic search skills and new searching techniques for the World Wide Web. The January 1998 opening of the new Electronic Classroom, administered by the HSSC Library, has made it possible to increase the size of hands-on instructional classes from 6 to 22 participants. The classroom has been used by individuals from all of the Health Sciences Center's programs, leading to a reduction in the number of instructor hours compared to participants taught.
Develop Interdisciplinary Education Programs
The NHRD Program Coordinator has developed working relationships with various
departments within the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.
Collaborative efforts to identify UNM HSC staff articles, publications, and
documents to place on the NHRD have been established with the Native American
Diabetes Program, the Steering Committee on Native American Psychiatry, the
College of Pharmacy, and the Indian Children's Program.
In March 1998, the library began a collaboration with the interdisciplinary 'Partnerships for Training' program to select software for web-based course delivery, to train faculty on use of the software, and to create a web resource page for students in the program. The 'Partnerships for Training' program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to create interdisciplinary training for remote delivery to students who are in the Physician Assistants' Program, the Certified Nurse Practitioner Program, the Certified Nurse Midwifery Program, or the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. The pilot program began in Portales, NM, in June 1998. It will be expanded to three additional sites in the coming year.
For the first time in HSC Library history, a faculty librarian served as a tutor/facilitator for the School of Medicine’s innovative Problem-Based Learning curriculum. Dr. Jon Eldredge served as a tutor/facilitator for first-year students in the Foundations, Gastroenterology/Nutrition, and Renal Blocks during the period of August through December 1997. In their formal evaluations of faculty performance, students offered positive comments about a librarian assuming this non-traditional educational role.
Enhance Programmatic Research Relevant to New Mexico’s Population
A team, which included Dr. Holly Buchanan and Dr. Jonathan Eldredge from the HSC Library worked with Dr. Harold Waitzkin, Russ Davidson, Kirsten Shelstad and others to secure federal funding for a Latin American Social Medicine research grant. The grant will allow access to potentially valuable medical literature through multilingual structured abstracts on a website.
In September 1997 the HSC Library contracted with the IHS to identify and catalog completed health and medical research projects focused on the American Indian population. A significant portion of the research identified and cataloged to date is focused on southwestern tribes, including New Mexico.
Clinical support continues to be an important role for the Library. A position for a Clinical Librarian was approved, to be filled in FY99. This position will provide direct support to hospital and clinic staff in the use of new information technologies and information resources. The OVID online database system, accessible 24 hours a day, has been enhanced with the Core Biomedical Collection of 15 full-text journals: physicians can now access an entire article from a patient unit or outpatient clinic. The Library has continued its special Internal Medicine rotation in informatics skills. Four resident physicians completed the rotation by June 1998.
Improve HSC Information Systems
Electronic journals with full text have been continually added to the HSC
Library’s online databases, both through the OVID Biomedical Collections and
directly through the Library’s electronic journals page on the HSCL homepage.
There are approximately 60 full-text titles available to UNM personnel.
The Native Health Research Database (NHRD) was developed and implemented using the Oracle Database Management System and SilverStream web application tool. The NHRD is an Internet-accessible health information system focused on American Indian and Alaska Native health, with a coverage period from 1965 through the present.
A web interface for the GeoMed project has been developed for the analysis and presentation of medical and health-related data and geographic data, and a prototype web application has been designed to utilize the spatial component of health data. GeoMed development was sponsored by a grant from the National Library of Medicine.
Submitted by
Ruth C.T. Morris, MLS
Associate Director for Collection Resources
Frequently Requested Statistics 1997-98
| Monographic Titles Added: | 2,470 |
| Monographic Volumes Added: | 2,723 |
| Monographic Volumes Added: | 2,723 |
| Current Journal Subscriptions: | 1,843 |
| Total Monographic Titles: | 54,189 |
| Total Monographic Volumes: | 58,383 |
| Total Media Titles: | 4,030 |
| Total Media Volumes: | 6,725 |
| Total Bound Journal Volumes: | 103,193 |
| Total Title Holdings: | 62,331 |
| Total Volume Holdings: | 169,161 |
| Materials Circulated: (Checkouts, reserve, media) | 70,921 |
| Materials used in the Library: | 203,552 |
| Total DD Requests Received: | 7,623 |
| Total ILL Requests Received: | 2,395 |
| Patron Logins to Databases: | 37 |
User Population, FY 1997-98
| User Population | Total Registered Users | % Total Registered Users | Active Borrowers |
| HSC FACULTY | |||
| Medicine | 659 | 8% | 248 |
| Nursing | 59 | 0.7% | 35 |
| Pharmacy | 46 | 0.6% | 20 |
| Allied Health | 21 | 0.3% | 15 |
| Dental Programs | 8 | 0.1% | 1 |
| TOTAL HSC FACULTY | 793 | 10% | 319 |
| HSC STUDENTS | |||
| Medicine | 656 | 8% | 419 |
| Nursing | 837 | 10% | 461 |
| Pharmacy | 460 | 6% | 323 |
| Allied Health | 326 | 4% | 215 |
| Dental Programs | 126 | 1% | 40 |
| TOTAL HSC STUDENTS | 2405 | 29% | 1458 |
| OTHER HSC USERS | |||
| House Officers | 640 | 8% | 276 |
| HSC Staff | 961 | 12% | 388 |
| HSC Nurses | 157 | 2% | 60 |
| Clinical Associates | 200 | 2% | 52 |
| Preceptors | 563 | 7% | 25 |
| TOTAL OTHER HSC USERS | 2521 | 31% | 801 |
| TOTAL HSC USERS | 5719 | 70% | 2578 |
| MC FACULTY | 121 | 1% | 44 |
| MC STUDENTS | |||
| Undergraduates | 1308 | 16% | 763 |
| Graduates | 601 | 7% | 255 |
| TOTAL MC STUDENTS | 1909 | 24% | 1018 |
| MC STAFF | 49 | 0.6% | 10 |
| TOTAL MAIN CAMPUS USERS | 2079 | 26% | 1072 |
| Outreach Members | 179 | 2% | 24 |
| Individual Health Professionals | 85 | 1% | 42 |
| Institutions | 34 | 0.4% | 4 |
| Law Firms | 5 | 0.1% | 3 |
| TOTAL COMMUNITY USERS | 303 | 4% | 73 |
| TOTAL USER POPULATION | 8101 | 100% | 3723 |
Circulation of Library Materials
| 1996/97 | 1997/98 | % Change | |
| Circulation | 21,278 | 20,443 | -4% |
| Reserve | 22,937 | 23,266 | 1% |
| TOTAL | 44,215 | 43,709 | -1% |
| Month | 96/97 Gate Count | 97/98 Gate Count | % Change |
| July | 13,660 | 13,142 | -4% |
| Aug | 16,682 | 15,173 | -9% |
| Sep | 26,548 | 29,201 | 10% |
| Oct | 28,360 | 29,550 | 4% |
| Nov | 23,642 | 24,311 | 3% |
| Dec | 1,077 | 17,796 | 4% |
| Jan | 15,731 | 15,395 | -2% |
| Feb | 25,219 | 25,081 | -1% |
| Mar | 23,293 | 23,199 | -0.4% |
| Apr | 26,053 | 24,630 | -5% |
| May | 17,779 | 17,304 | -3% |
| June | 13,251 | 13,313 | -0.5% |
| TOTAL | 234,044 | 234,782 | 0.3% |