The American Library Association is beginning to rally libraries and their patrons for more privacy in this digital age.  They have posted their white paper on “Rallying Americans for the Right to Information Privacy” as well as posting videos of panel speakers at their recent conference.

You can find all of this on their Privacy Revolution Site.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region is pleased to announce the recipients of our initial round of Technology Innovation Awards!

The recipients are:

• Touro-Harlem Medical Library - Shelly Warwick - Building instructional capacity.
• Columbia University Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library - Flash screen network.
• University of Rochester Medical Center - Donna R. Berryman - CLIC-on-Health online outreach to refugees.
• St. Francis Medical Library - Rosemary Figorito - Projecto Salud - outreach and training to hispanic communities.
• John F. Kennedy Medical Center Medical Library - Lena Feld - Software Upgrade Promotes Enhanced Research (SUPER)

Congratulations to all the award recipients!

All MAR network members should keep an eye out for our next call for applications for Technology Innovation Awards in late summer or early fall!

The National Networkof Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region is pleased to announce the recipients of our latest round of Technology Improvement Awards!

The recipients are:

• St. Barnabas Medical Center - Patricia Reusing - Acquiring and using Softlink to automate and streamline library processes.
• Geisinger Health System - Patricia Ulmer - Equipping the library with an assistive technology workstation.
• New York State Nurses Association Library - Warren Hawkes - Replacing their 10 year old hardwired network with a secure free-standing wireless independent network.
• Mercy Hospital - Grace DiVirgilio - Upgrading of library computers to to along with the library’s move to a new, higher traffic locale.
• St. Elizabeth Medical Center Library - Halyna Liszczynskyj - Upgrading of library computers and software.
• Albany Medical College - Enid Geyer - Using Lenovo Tablet PCs for developing support skills and remote reference.
• Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center - Susan Cleveland - Computer kiosks to provide consumer health information to patients, family members and visitors.
• Western Pennsylvania Hospital Forbes Regional Campus - Heidi Patterson - Upgrading library computers.
• Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health - Susanne Ingle - Upgraded computers and scanners for improved document delivery and reference services.
• Lourdes Medical Center - Beth Murtaugh - 24/7 access computer workstations.
• Western Pennsylvania Hospital - Heidi Patterson - Patient and Family Education Center computers.
• Matheny Medical Center - Jungwon DeVone - Computer and scanner upgrades for improved document delivery and patron computer access.
• Coney Island Hospital - Laraine Tursi - Upgrading of library computers, printers and faxes for improved document delivery, patron access and staff workflow.

Congratulations to all the award recipients!

All MAR network members keep an eye out for our next call for applications of Technology Improvment Award in late summer or early fall!  Next time it could be you!

The Center on Democracy and Technology has published a Policy Paper on the issues surrounding electronic health records. The paper, entitled “Privacy and Security Principles for Health Information Technology,” is broken down into three areas:

1. CDT Calls for the Adoption of a Comprehensive Privacy and Security Framework for Health Information Technology
2. Basics Required in any Health Information Technology Policy
3. CDT’s Suggested Implementation

As electronic health records continue to develop, expect to see more Think Tanks and organizations developing thoughts and positions as to how they should be handled.  ArsTechnica also has a good analysis of the paper.

The Smithsonian has created a photostream on the Flickr website with scans of photographs in their collection with no known copyright restrictions. This collection of photos becomes part of the Flickr Commons group and joins the photo collections of other institutions such as The Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Museum and the Powerhouse Museum.

View the Smithsonian Flickr photostream

The Mozilla organization has announced that its new version of Firefox will be released on June 17th. The new version comes with several new features including one-click bookmarking and faster performance. You can read more about the new features of Firefox 3 on their site.

Mozilla is also hoping to set the Guinness World Record for Most Software Downloaded in 24 Hour period by having as many people as possible upgrade in one day. You can pledge your support and upgrade to the newest version of this open source web browser!

The WikiProfessional project has launched WikiProteins for beta testing. They are calling on professionals to contribute to the annotation of proteins culled from existing databases, such as PubMed, Swiss-Prot, and the Gene Ontology database.

Read more about the project at Ars Technica and the full paper published on Genome Biology that describes the collaborative nature of the project in more detail.

Leigh Mihlrad
Systems & Technology Librarian
Schaffer Library of Health Sciences
Albany Medical College
Albany, NY

A variety of Internet-based office products, such as Google Docs (http://docs.google.com), Zoho (http://www.zoho.com), and Microsoft Office Live (http://workspace.officelive.com) have popped up to challenge traditional desktop-based office products. While not new, they are developing new features that might pose a threat to more established (and expensive) products like Microsoft Office, as least for some. All are still in beta format, and are works in progress.

The best way to learn is by trying them out. All are free, though require registration. Sampling both desktop and Internet varieties gives you an idea of the pros and cons of each, as well as what kinds of projects each might be good for. Practicing with test files or other non-crucial material is advised. Try setting up margins, adding colors, changing presentation templates, etc. to see how things work.

As an Office 2007 user, the biggest thing I noticed is that most of the Internet products do not yet let you upload Office 2007 documents. In Word 2007, file names end in “docx” (as opposed to “.doc” in previous verstions). Not surprisingly perhaps, Microsoft Office Live permits this. When trying to upload a .docx file in Google Docs, the system tells you that this file extension is not supported. This leaves the only option as saving the file in the older Word file extension, and uploading it that way. Zoho.com lets you export Office 2007 files from their site but not import them.

Internet-based products seem well-suited for collaborative projects, as they allow you to easily add collaborators. This permits easier editing than if doing them in Office, where one might e-mail a file back and forth. In some cases chat windows are also available, so you can talk to collaborators while working on a project. Expect fewer layout bells and whistles though. Fonts are limited, as are things such as bullet types and symbols. When I exported a file from Microsoft Office to Zoho, I found that many of my layout choices did not transfer over. I had to redo some of the bullet points and fonts. However, the content was all still there. The files also save a bit slower than they do when working in Microsoft Office.

Changes are afoot to bring the Internet products even closer to their desktop peers. Not long ago, you had to be logged onto the site to work on your files. Now, you can work on them even while “offline.” The spreadsheet products feature pivot tables. Most of the products also have their own blogs to alert users of new features.

As they offer fewer bells and whistles, I also found many of the Internet products easier to use for a beginner. Whereas PowerPoint might intimidate some, the Internet-based versions are more “click and add.” One could likely prepare a presentation or spreadsheet with very little prior experience.

Being relatively new products, things are not perfect with the Internet suites. Occasionally I experienced bugs, and the Microsoft versions certainly offer more layout choices. If one wants vast layout or customization options, then they might want to stick with the desktop versions. Privacy is also an issue, as desktop files appear safer, being saved on one’s computer or flash drive instead of another company’s server. However, Internet-based office products keep improving and offer more flexibility. They are certainly worth considering.

Live from Computers and Libraries 2008

Susan Robishaw
Assistant Director Health Sciences Libraries
Geisenger Health System

I’m getting my technological batteries recharged at Computers in Libraries 23rd annual conference. I’ve attended several over the years (too difficult to figure how many!) and I’ve always found it to be very worthwhile. Usually, I have a hard time deciding just which sessions to attend. Then there are the free Cybertours. These 15 minute, standing room only sessions take place in the exhibit hall. Given by “savvy web experts,” they compete for my limited time yet add value I’m reluctant to do without.

Today, I’ve been attending sessions on Integrating Hi Tech with Hi Touch. Of the morning’s sessions, the 2nd one on Digital Convergence & People Apps was more useful than the first one, which was interesting, but definitely public library oriented. The current session is High Touch with Customer Care. The first presenter spoke about patient education and did an excellent job! Her talk was relevant, practical and informative. She’s going to post her slides on her patientmatters blog. The current presentation is about taking summer reading online, so I’m tuning out.
The last session for today is “Library Staff Training: High Tech & High Touch. Staff training is a perpetual endeavor and doing it well is a challenge. I’m looking forward to learning some new techniques.

BTW: I finally feel like I’m a member of the “in” group. I brought my recently purchased laptop, a notebook actually. It has wifi, so I can log into the hotel’s wireless T-mobile network, use Word to compose this blog entry, and to take notes during presentations. I like to sit up front so I can hear better. Another advantage of sitting in the front is that there are tables with surge protectors. In the last session, my red Dell XPS was sandwiched between 2 other Dells. The one to my left was satisfactorily mundane: a gray notebook about the same size as mine, but visibly an older model. The owner commented favorably about mine. The one to my right, though, I must admit, caused me a few minutes of laptop envy; it was smaller and sleeker than mine, but still a pedestrian gray. Another Dell just sat down it’s both black and bigger. The owner doesn’t seem to mind though.

www.slideshare.net/informationgoddess29
http://patienteducationmatters.blogspot.com

There have been reported problems with LinkOut over the past few days.  LinkOut and Outside Tool icons in the upper right hand portion of the Abstract Plus display are not functioning properly.  This problem has been reported to NLM and programmers are working to fix this issue.  In the mean time, you may continue to use Abstract or Citation displays with no problems.  The problem is also reported to only exist when using the Mozilla Firefox browser.