MLA News Selected Articles

June/July 1999

Bulletin Editor Search Begins

Submitted by the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association Editor Search Committee

A search for a new editor of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association has been started to replace J. Michael Homan, AHIP, Mayo Medical Library, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, who was elected MLA’s 1999/2000 president-elect. During his tenure as editor of the Bulletin, Homan was responsible for developing and implementing the Bulletin electronic table of contents service; augmenting the Bulletin associate editor team to include editors for hospital librarianship, association history, and international issues; fostering the development of the Bulletin Editorial Board as a true peer review body; mentoring and encouraging Bulletin authors; and serving as an advocate for the possibilities of electronic publishing. The editor is an appointed official of MLA and is responsible for the content of the quarterly journal. A search committee has been appointed by MLA President Jacqueline Donaldson Doyle, AHIP, and will be chaired by Elaine Martin, AHIP, The Lamar Soutter Medical Library, University of Massachusetts Medical Center–Worcester. The three-year appointment will commence with the January 2000 issue of the Bulletin. Applicants should have strong writing and editorial experience, demonstrate an active involvement in health sciences librarianship, and express an interest in furthering the profession through publications. If you are interested in applying or need further information, please contact Lynanne Feilen, MLA’s director of publications, at 312.419.9094 x23 by June 30, 1999. Applications should include a current curriculum vitae and a letter outlining relevant experience and interest.

Call for a New News Editor

Submitted by the MLA News Editor Search Committee

Current MLA News Editor Jean Demas, AHIP, Alliance of American Insurers, Downers Grove, IL, will complete her second term May 1999. During her six-year tenure as editor, Demas oversaw the print redesign of the News, established uniform guidelines for column content responsibility, and worked closely with her associate editors to ensure timely and accurate news reporting. The News editor is an appointed official of the association, is responsible for the content of the News during a three-year term, and may be reappointed for a second term. MLA President Jacqueline Donaldson Doyle, AHIP, has appointed a News editor search committee—chaired by Elaine Martin, AHIP, The Lamar Soutter Medical Library, University of Massachusetts Medical Center–Worcester—to recommend candidates to the board, which is responsible for appointing the editor. The editor of the News should be interested in achieving the publication’s objectives: keeping association members informed about professional activities and opportunities, serving as a vehicle for discussion of association policies and projects, and educating readers about new programs and resources relevant to the health information profession. Previous newsletter editorial experience would be helpful, as would an understanding of MLA and its organization. The editor must adhere to short deadlines, cultivate sources of information, and devote approximately twenty hours a month to the newsletter. Members are encouraged to apply for the position by submitting a curriculum vitae and a letter outlining your interest in the position and relevant experience to Lynanne Feilen, MLA’s director of publications, at 312.419.9094 x23. Please forward your applications by June 30, 1999.

Grants and Scholarships Recipients

MLA awarded more than $15,000 in grants and scholarships in 1999 to qualified students and practicing librarians in the health information field. Seven recipients were honored at the 1999 Awards Luncheon and Ceremony during MLA ’99 in Chicago.

Cunningham Memorial International Fellowship

Timothy Shola Abolarinwa
Timothy Shola Abolarinwa, medical librarian at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research in Lagos, Nigera received this year’s Cunningham fellowship. The Cunningham fellowship supports educational opportunities for a librarian from outside the United States and Canada.

EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grant

Shirley Brooke
In 1994, EBSCO Information Services established annual grants of up to $1,000 each for up to two librarians to attend the MLA annual meeting. Shirley Brooke, library associate/CME coordinator at Flagstaff Medical Center in Flagstaff, AZ, received the grant, which covered travel and meeting related expenses for MLA ’99 in Chicago.

Medical Informatics Section/MLA Career Development Grants

Ruth Riley
Gang (Wendy) Wu
In 1997, the Medical Informatics Section (MIS) of MLA established the Medical Informatics Section/MLA Career Development Grant. The section awards up to two individuals $1,000 each to support a career development activity that will contribute to the advancement of the field of medical informatics. This year’s recipients are Ruth Riley, associate director, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library in Little Rock; and Gang (Wendy) Wu, medical librarian, Shiffman Library, Wayne State University, Detroit.

MLA Minority Scholarship

Tomeka Oubichon
This MLA scholarship is awarded annually to a student from a designated minority group who is entering or completing an ALA-accredited program in library science. This year, the $2,000 scholarship was awarded to Tomeka K. Oubichon, currently a graduate student at the School of Library and Information Science, Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge.

MLA Scholarship

Cynthia Lynn Ammons
MLA provides a $2,000 scholarship each year to a student enrolled in an ALA-accredited library science program. Cynthia Lynn Ammons, who is currently pursuing her M.L.S. from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge, is this year’s recipient.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Project Grant

Catherine Graber
This grant provides support for research, development, and demonstration projects that will help to promote excellence in the health sciences field. Catherine Graber, medical librarian from the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York, is this year’s recipient.

HLS/MLA Professional Development Grant

Metropolitan Detroit Medical Libraries Group
The Hospital Library Section (HLS) sponsors a grant to provide librarians working in hospital or similar clinical settings with the support needed for educational or research activities. The Metropolitan Detroit Medical Libraries Group, Research Committee, received this year’s grant for their project, “Needs Assessment of Physicians in Ambulatory Centers.” Carole M. Gilbert, AHIP, Helen L. DeRoy Medical Library, Providence Hospital and Medical Center, Southfield, MI, accepted the award on behalf of the Metropolitan Detroit Medical Libraries Group.

MLA's Award Winning Professionals

Nearly 1,000 MLA members attended the annual Awards Luncheon and Ceremony on May 17, 1999, held during MLA ’99 in Chicago, to honor this year’s award recipients and recognize outstanding professional achievement in health sciences librarianship.

The Lois Ann Colaianni Award for Excellence and Achievement in Hospital Librarianship

Jacqueline D. Bastille, AHIP
Established in 1989, this award was renamed in 1999 to honor Lois Ann Colaianni. It recognizes a hospital librarian who demonstrates excellence through significant accomplishment, continuing contributions to the profession, and leadership. Jacqueline D. Bastille, AHIP, director of the Health Sciences Library at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, is MLA’s 1999 hospital librarian of the year. Bastille is a MLA fellow and a past president of the association. She has chaired numerous committees and made significant contributions to the association through her many activities.

The Estelle Brodman Award for the Medical Librarian of the Year

E. Diane Johnson, AHIP
The Estelle Brodman Award for the Medical Librarian of the Year is given for outstanding contributions to academic medical librarianship as demonstrated by excellence in performance, publications, research, service, or a combination thereof. E. Diane Johnson, AHIP, head of Information Services at the J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, University of Missouri–Columbia is this year’s recipient. She received her M.L.S. in 1980 from the University of Minnesota.

The Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences

Jonathan Eldredge, M.L.S., Ph.D., AHIP
The Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences was established by Ballen Booksellers. The medal is endowed by Blackwell North America. Jonathan Eldredge, M.L.S., Ph.D., AHIP, from the University of New Mexico–Albuquerque (UNM), has received the 1999 Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences. Eldredge serves as chief of collections and information resources development at the UNM Health Sciences Center Library and as a tenured faculty member in the School of Medicine at UNM. Eldredge is best known within librarianship as a prolific author and regular speaker at MLA annual meetings and South Central Chapter meetings. He has authored more than forty publications on collection development, problem-based learning, editorial peer review, governmental relations, and library promotion. Eldredge is best known in the world of medicine as journal review editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association. He has held this editorship, jointly appointed by MLA and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors (AAHSLD), since 1994. He has held numerous MLA offices.

The Ida and George Eliot Prize

Barbara F. Schloman, Ph.D., AHIP
Judith F. Burnham, AHIP
Linda G. Slater
Eileen M. Wakiji, AHIP
The Ida and George Eliot Prize, sponsored by Login Brothers Book Company, is given annually for a work published in the preceding calendar year that has been judged most effective in furthering medical librarianship. Barbara F. Schloman, Ph.D., AHIP, is director, Library Information Services, and associate professor, Libraries & Media Services, at Kent State University, Kent, OH. She received her library degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and her doctorate in health education from Kent State University. Judith F. Burnham, AHIP, is assistant director for administrative and regional services at the University of South Alabama Biomedical Library in Mobile. She received her M.L.S. From the University of Southern Mississippi–Hattiesburg. Linda G. Slater, is a reference/collections librarian at the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta–Edmonton. Eileen M. Wakiji, AHIP, is nursing and allied health librarian at California State University–Long Beach where she is a tenured, associate librarian. She received her M.S.L.S. From the University of Southern California–Los Angeles. All received this year’s award for their work on “Mapping the Literature of Allied Health” (Bull Med Libr Assoc 1997 July;85(3):269–302).

The Majors/MLA Chapter Project of the Year Award

North Atlantic Health Sciences Librarians
This award is given for the achievement of excellence through special projects demonstrating advocacy, leadership, service, technological advances, or innovations that contribute to the advancement of health sciences librarians. These attributes must be shown through special projects beyond the normal operational programming of the chapter. The North Atlantic Health Sciences Librarians Chapter has received this year’s award for its benchmarking project. This project grew out of a 1995 NAHSL Conference Town Meeting forum. The purpose of the project was to gather library data to be used by NAHSL members for information sharing, strategic planning, staffing, comparing budgets, and education.

The ISI/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award

BioSites
The ISI/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award, sponsored by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), recognizes an outstanding contribution to the application of technology to the delivery of health sciences information. BioSites is a Web resource that supports the identification of high quality biomedical Internet resources. It grew out of recommendations from the Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library (PSRML) and resource librarians’ discussions about cooperative collection development for Internet resources. BioSites was officially released in January 1997. Beryl Glitz, AHIP, Biomedical Library, University of California–Los Angeles; Anne Prussing, Biomedical Library, University of California–San Diego; Melissa Just, Biomedical Library, University of California–San Francisco; Mary Buttner, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; Greg Williamson, Digital Think, Inc., San Francisco; and Brian Warling California Digital Library, University of California; accepted the award on behalf of BioSites.

MLA Fellows

Jo Anne Boorkman, AHIP
Judith Messerle, AHIP Dottie Eakin, AHIP
Rick B. Forsman, AHIP
June Glaser, AHIP
Each year the MLA Board of Directors appoints several professionals as Fellows of MLA. Fellows are chosen for their outstanding achievements and significant scholarship, as well as their demonstrated commitment to and excellence in health sciences librarianship. The following individuals were inducted as Fellows at MLA ’99: Jo Anne Boorkman, AHIP, head of the Carlson Health Sciences Library, University of California–Davis; Judith Messerle, AHIP, librarian for the Harvard Medical and Boston Medical Libraries at the Countway Library of Medicine located at the Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA; Dottie Eakin, AHIP, director of the Medical Sciences Library at Texas A&M University–College Station; Rick B. Forsman, AHIP, director of the Denison Memorial Library at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver; and June Glaser, AHIP, director of the Basil G. Bibby Library, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.

MLA Honorary Member

William G. Cooper
Honorary membership is granted by the MLA Board of Directors to professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the purposes of the association but were not previously MLA members. This year MLA welcomes William G. Cooper, Ph.D., as an Honorary Member. He has long been a supporter of libraries and quality medical education. Following a career of teaching and research in anatomy and cell biology, he held significant administrative positions that involved biomedical communications and libraries. He served as director of NLM’s Extramural Programs, where he oversaw the review and funding of grants, many to libraries. He is well known for his work with the concept and reality of Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS). Cooper has always been interested in and at the forefront of new technologies for the dissemination of biomedical information. He is the founder and director of the consulting firm Cooper and Associates, Charlottesville, VA. Clients have included the Hospitals Satellite Network (Los Angeles), the National Library of Medicine, and the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. He has continued to be a mentor and ardent supporter of medical librarians.

The Murray Gottlieb Prize

Godfrey Belleh
Eric v.d. Luft
The Murray Gottleib Prize was established by a gift from the Old Hickory Bookshop to recognize and stimulate health sciences librarians’ interest in the history of medicine. This year’s Murray Gottleib Prize was awarded to Godfrey Belleh and Eric v.d. Luft, Ph.D., for their paper “Financing North American Medical Libraries in the Nineteenth Century.” Belleh is currently the head of Technical Services at the Health Sciences Library, SUNY–Syracuse. Dr. v.d. Luft is the curator of historical collections at SUNY.

The Janet Doe Lectureship

Sherrilynne Fuller, Ph.D.
The Janet Doe Lecture on the history of philosophy of health sciences librarianship is presented at each MLA annual meeting. The lectureship was established in 1966 by an anonymous donor in honor of Janet Doe, librarian emerita of the New York Academy of Medicine, past president of MLA, and editor of the first two editions of the Handbook of Medical Library Practice. Sherrilynne Fuller, Ph.D., director of the Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center at the University of Washington–Seattle, was selected to deliver this year’s lecture, entitled “Enabling, Empowering, Inspiring: Research and Mentorship through the Years.” She has been an active member of MLA, a member of the MLA Board of Directors, NLM Board of Regents, and the AMIA Board of Directors.

The Joseph Leiter NLM/MLA Lectureship

Daniel Callahan, Ph.D.
Established in 1983 by a joint agreement between MLA and NLM, this lecture is presented every other year at the MLA annual meeting and in alternate years at NLM. Lecturers are chosen for their abilities to open an intellectual dialogue on subjects related to biomedical communications that will serve to stimulate a liaison between MLA and NLM. This year’s lecturer, Daniel Callahan, Ph.D., director of International Programs at the Hastings Center, Briarcliff Manor, NY, presented a lecture entitled, “Can We Afford Technological Progress and an Aging Society?”

The John P. McGovern Award Lectureship

Daniel Burrus
This award was established in 1982 to honor John P. McGovern, M.D. The award is used to invite a significant national or international figure to speak on a topic of importance to health sciences librarianship. Daniel Burrus, founder and president of Burrus Research Associates, Inc., Milwaukee, WI, presented a lecture entitled “Future Views: Toast of the Town or Just Plain Toast?”

President’s Award

June Fulton
The President’s Award is presented to an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the profession and the goals of the association. This year the award is presented to June Fulton, AHIP, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Philadelphia, for her dedicated work and exemplary leadership as the chair of the Ad Hoc Centennial Coordinating Committee. Fulton has chaired the committee since 1995. Under her leadership, the ad hoc committee, staff, chapters, sections, and committees of the association have planned and carried out a successful year long celebration of MLA’s centennial anniversary. Some highlights of their work include: planning one of the most successful meetings in MLA history with a record number of attendees, raising more than $82,000 in contributions to support special centennial programs and projects, and working with Representative John Porter to have a proclamation in honor of MLA’s centennial anniversary printed in the Congressional Record and to have Vice-President Al Gore present greetings by video to members attending MLA ’98.

The Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award

Lucretia W. McClure, AHIP
The award, established in 1998 in honor of one of MLA’s most respected members, honors an outstanding educator in the field of health sciences librarianship and informatics who demonstrates skills in teaching, curriculum development, mentoring, research, or leadership in education at local, regional, or national levels. The first Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award was presented to Lucretia W. McClure, AHIP. An accomplished educator who has taught MLA-sponsored courses around the world, McClure is a mentor to many professionals in the health sciences information profession.

Research Spotlight: Clinical Q&A

Submitted by Kristin Stoklosa, National Institutes of Health Library, Bethesda, MD, and Research Resources Committee, MLA Research Section

Editor's Note: This series features MLA members’ research projects published outside the library literature in scientific and biomedical publications. The Research Resources Committee of the MLA Research Section shares this series to promote awareness of information research, to encourage research in library practice, to stimulate interest in a variety of publications, and to inspire further MLA research.

From bone fide databases such as MEDLINE to HTML pages on the Web, how useful is the spectrum of online information sources in answering clinical questions? The research summarized in this Research Spotlight is of high interest to practicing medical librarians whose clients expect or assume search results that are precisely applicable in the patient care setting. These studies consist of a literature analysis on information retrieval system use and a new exploration of the clinical relevance of Web information. Both studies were led by William Hersh, MD, associate professor and chief, Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research, Oregon Health Sciences University–Portland.

“How Well Do Physicians Use Electronic Information Retrieval Systems? A Framework for Investigation and Systematic Review”

MLA Member
William R. Hersh, MD, Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research, Oregon Health Sciences University–Portland

Source
Hersh WR, Hickam DH. How well do physicians use electronic information retrieval systems? a framework for investigation and systematic review. JAMA 1998 Oct 21;280(15):1347–52.

Project Description
This literature analysis assesses the effectiveness for physicians of electronic information retrieval (IR) systems by examining previous evaluation studies. Articles on physician use of computerized information retrieval systems were retrieved from the MEDLINE and LISA databases back to 1966. The authors isolated forty-seven evaluation studies and analyzed them according to a framework of six criteria: frequency of use, purpose of use, user satisfaction, searching utility, search failure, and improved health care delivery outcomes. Meta-analysis could not be done due to the heterogeneity and simplistic study designs of the articles studied. The investigators concluded that physicians use retrieval systems infrequently compared to their known information needs: 0.3 to 9 times per physician per month compared to 2 unanswered questions for every 3 patients. Measuring relative recall as the number of unique relevant documents retrieved in three or more searches on the same topic, most searches retrieved only one-fourth to one-half of the relevant articles on a given topic. The authors also emphasized the importance of clinically significant recall: rather than 100% recall, clinicians needed enough information to answer the question that motivated system use. Time was also a factor: the study found that using the journal literature was time consuming and thus impractical for physicians on a regular basis. Synthesized, evidence-based content, such as the Cochrane Collaboration reviews, might expedite physicians’ retrieval and application of the journal literature and might improve search precision and recall. In turn, Hersh viewed librarians as instrumental in the development of such content and in instructing physicians in its use.

“Applicability and Quality of Information for Answering Clinical Questions on the Web”

MLA Member
William R. Hersh, MD, Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research; and Lynetta S. Sacherek, M.L.S., Health Informatics; Oregon Health Sciences University–Portland

Source
Hersh WR, Gorman PN, Scherek LS. Applicability and quality of information for answering clinical questions on the Web. JAMA 1998 Oct 21;280(15):1307–8.

Project Description
The authors performed this observational study to evaluate the Web as a resource for sound information relevant to clinical questions. A medical librarian used the meta-search engine Metacrawler to search fifty clinical questions generated by physicians during care. Evaluated against a set of criteria including applicability to the clinical question, authors’ credentials, attribution of sources, disclosure of findings and conflicts of interest, and indication of currency, all the pages were of poor quality. Of the 629 pages retrieved, only 10% had context applicable to the clinical question, and only 40% were professionally oriented. Documentation was inadequate on the retrieved pages: site affiliation was the only quality measure in any of the pages and was only present in half of them. The investigators did not intend to test the retrieval effectiveness of the search engine itself. Distinguishing HTML pages from online versions of traditional information sources (e.g., indexes), the authors concluded that the former constituted a poor resource for answering the clinical questions in this study.

T. Mark Hodges, AHIP, Receives Noyes Award

The association presents the Marcia C. Noyes Award annually to an individual who has made a lasting and significant contribution to the profession of health sciences librarianship. This year’s recipient is T. Mark Hodges, AHIP.

T. Mark Hodges, AHIP, received his library education at what is now Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. After service with the Sheffield Public Library, he immigrated to the United States where he held appointments at the libraries of Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; and Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA; and at the Brooklyn, NY, Public Library before entering medical librarianship at Harvard University Medical Library, Cambridge, MA, in 1964. There he was head of circulation services and helped plan the move to the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, which opened in 1965.

When the Countway Library was designated as the nation’s first regional medical library in 1967, Hodges was named director of its New England Regional Medical Library Service (NERMLS). He left Harvard in 1970 to assume a similar position at Emory University, Atlanta, GA, that of director of the Southeastern Regional Medical Library Program (SERMLP).

In 1972, Hodges was appointed director of the Medical Center Library at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, in which post he served until his retirement in 1995. During those years, he developed the library and, toward the end of his career, presided over the design, construction, occupancy, and operation of the Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library, which opened its doors in March of 1994.

Long a member of MLA, Hodges has served the association in a number of capacities, notably on two ad hoc committees: one to study MLA’s group structure, the other to implement the recommendations of the first committee. For many years, he was the parliamentarian. He has also been active in the North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries and Southern Chapters and in the Medical School Libraries and International Cooperation Sections.

Since 1984, Hodges has prepared reports on MLA’s annual meetings for our British colleagues. These have appeared in Health Libraries Review. He has had numerous other articles, reports, and reviews to his credit. Hodges was a charter member of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors (AAHSLD) and served on its Board of Directors from 1987 to 1990. He has been active in other library organizations.

In retirement, he has continued to serve MLA and has compiled brief histories of the International Cooperation Section and the Southern Chapter. In 1997, he presented the Janet Doe Lecture, with the title “Musings on Our Meetings: MLA Conventions, ’Ninety-eight to Date.” At the centennial meeting in Philadelphia, he was listed among MLA’s “100 Most Notable.”

Hodges was elected a fellow of the British Library Association in 1990 and of MLA in 1995. Upon retirement from Vanderbilt University, he received the Vanderbilt University Library Leadership Award and was named professor of medical administration emeritus.