In late October, the Gretchen and James Johnson Medical Library at the Matheny Medical and Educational Center added two new patron-access computer workstations to its one existing workstation with funds from an NNLM/MAR grant. These workstations are an important new resource for our hospital’s nurses, therapists, teachers, personal care assistants, and other direct care staff who otherwise might not have easy access to computers. The project’s beneficiaries also include many medical students, residents, nursing students, and therapies interns who are trained at our facility. Aside from providing these individuals with greater access to the hospital’s computing network, the workstations have been an excellent “draw” to bring people into the library, prompting them to consider the library’s other resources. Funds were also used to upgrade a scanner used for a Table of Contents delivery service and interlibrary loans. The Matheny Medical and Educational Center is a special school and hospital in Peapack, New Jersey, serving the healthcare and educational needs of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Jungwon DeVone- Matheny Medical & Educational Center- Medical Library.  Peapack, NJ

Hurricane Ike, South Central Region Medical Libraries, Hurricane Web Links, and a New Listserv.

As many of you are aware, the South Central RML is currently closed, and will remain closed until Thursday, September 18^th, due to affects of Hurricane Ike.  In accordance with the NN/LM National Emergency Preparedness & Response plan, South Central’s buddy RML, the Middle Atlantic Region (MAR), is backing up the office by taking calls and redirecting DOCLINE, when necessary.  A special thanks to MAR staff for temporarily taking on this important responsibility.

For information on emergency preparedness planning for libraries as well as some post-disaster updates, see the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit at http://nnlm.gov/ep/. I am pleased to report that the toolkit received a lot of traffic the day before Hurricane Ike struck the Gulf Coast, which shows that libraries are using the toolkit as a preparedness resource.  To see additional updates (or provide a status report), check the SCR blog, Blogadillo, at http://nnlm.gov/scr/blog/.

Also of note, the National Library of Medicine home page has added a news item on hurricane resources, “Online Resources for Hurricanes, Floods, and Disaster Preparedness and Recovery” at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/disaster_resources_online.html.

Finally, a new listserv, DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB, is now available as a discussion forum for librarians, information specialists and others interested in disaster information outreach to their communities and responding to information needs for all-hazards preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. It is also the primary source for information announcing the activities of the National Library of Medicine’s Disaster Information Specialist Pilot Project. List members may post comments and resources of interest to those involved in disaster information outreach as well as relevant announcements of meetings, training, conferences, job openings, etc. The listserv is provided by the National Library of Medicine’s Disaster Information Management Research Center.  You can sign up for the list and view the archives at https://list.nih.gov/archives/disastr-outreach-lib.html.

Please contact Cindy Love, lovec@mail.nlm.nih.gov, if you have any questions or comments about the listserv.

In light of the National Weather Service’s Tropical Storm Hanna Advisory, we would like to remind you to contact the RML in the event that your library is significantly affected by the storm.

The RML can deactivate DOCLINE during any temporary closures or recovery periods.  Please do not hesitate to call or e-mail us if there is anything we can do to help.

The warning for Tropical Storm Hanna is in effect from Altamaha Sound, Georgia along the Atlantic Coast to Sandy Hook, NJ.  While we hope you will not need to call us, we want you to know we will do our bes tot help should the need arise.

Call us toll-free:  800-338-7657

E-mail us:  rml@library.med.nyu.edu

We have heard from many libraries about rejecting requests from non-EFTS libraries. While we understand EFTS libraries’ desire to avoid paper invoices, we also understand non-EFTS libraries limits in participating in the program.

For all libraries that consider it acceptable to not fill for non-EFTS libraries, we urge you to consider the long-term implications and the potential exclusion this will impose on a large segment of the DOCLINE community. More importantly, if you elect to practice this method of rejection, please use some professional discretion:

• Urgent Patient Care requests require immediate service and all participating libraries should do their best to complete these request promptly for EFTS and non-EFTS requestors alike.
  
• Requests that have routed beyond the normal routing table (Refer to Resource Libraries, Refer on After NLM) have exhausted normal options for borrowing and need to be completed.
  
• Free reciprocal requests which would not require invoicing should not be rejected for non-EFTS libraries. Participation in a library group requires completion of requests per the terms of the group. Any library that is a member of FreeShare or BHSL *must* honor another FreeShare/BHSL library’s requests per group agreements. Even if the requesting library is not EFTS, that has no bearing on whether or not that library is FreeShare/BHSL.

DOCLINE requires that libraries provide reciprocal service and the rejection of an entire category of libraries from resource sharing seriously jeopardizes the continued success of DOCLINE.

MAR has explored non-EFTS libraries’ reasons for not participating in the program and we have found that these libraries are excluded not by choice, but by circumstance—hospital administrators and accounting departments that restrict the placement of money on deposit.

If you encounter a non-EFTS library, take a moment to encourage their membership in the program or refer them to their RML to help them join EFTS.

For non-EFTS libraries, MAR has recently launched a new EFTS award which provides up to $200 in starter funds. These funds can ensure that when and if you ever need to borrow for cost, the money will be there. It also marks your library as an EFTS participant. Please consider applying for this award (http://nnlm.gov/mar/funding/efts.html). Deadline for applications is August 1, 2008.

If you have questions, please contact the RML (rml@library.med.nyu.edu or 1-800-338-7657).

The NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region (MAR), as part of its efforts to improve resource sharing throughout the region, is now accepting applications from MAR Full DOCLINE Network members for the newly-created EFTS awards.

The purpose of the EFTS award is to promote participation in EFTS among Full DOCLINE members and to improve the ease and cost-effectiveness of resource sharing throughout the region. The EFTS award creates opportunities for non-EFTS libraries to receive initial funding to join the program and for current EFTS members to receive funding to continue their resource sharing efforts.

Non-EFTS libraries may request up to $200 in starter funds. Current EFTS members may request up to $500 in continuing funds. All funds will be distributed directly from NN/LM MAR and deposited to EFTS in the name of the applicant. Deadline for application is August 1, 2008.

For additional information, including online application forms, see http://nnlm.gov/mar/funding/ and select EFTS award.

Questions? Call 1-800-338-7657 or e-mail rml@library.med.nyu.edu.

In order for DOCLINE to work effectively, member libraries must accurately report their collections via DOCLINE SERHOLD–including maintaining a recommended minimum of 25 serial titles.

Over the next few weeks, MAR will be reaching out to those DOCLINE libraries that are reporting under 25 titles  in SERHOLD and encouraging them to add titles to SERHOLD or to explore new ways to increase their collection and their contribution to DOCLINE.

This is also a reminder to all libraries to take a moment to review their SERHOLD records and make sure that the titles they have listed are in fact titles available for lending.  If you have questions about your SERHOLD record in DOCLINE, please feel free to contact the RML at rml@library.med.nyu.edu or 800-338-7657.

Thanks to those libraries that have already submitted their DOCLINE hold requests for the holidays. It has made our lives much easier and has hopefully taken one more thing off your to-do list before this busy time of the year.

For those libraries that have not yet submitted, please take a moment and send in your request via the online form: http://nnlm.gov/rsdd/docline/dochold.html. Please remember this form is to be used for temporary DOCLINE deactivations of more than three days, not including weekends.

Libraries will receive a confirmation message indicating that their hold request has been entered into DOCLINE.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail or call the RML–rml@library.med.nyu.edu or 1-800-338-7657.

Over the next twelve months, the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) at the University of Pittsburgh will introduce a pilot program to provide fast, cost-effective interlibrary loans to over 100 Pennsylvania and Delaware hospital libraries.  With its strong collection, including over 3,900 unique journal titles, prompt and efficient service, and proficient use of technology, the University of Pittsburgh is an ideal center for launching this resource sharing project.

Under this project, HSLS will provide document delivery services to hospital libraries for a discounted rate of $8.50 per article.  The program is limited to hospitals with under 500 beds in Pennsylvania and Delaware.  Participating libraries agree to the following:

• Requests must be submitted via DOCLINE

• Libraries must be willing to receive articles electronically through Ariel, Odyssey or Web PDF

• All libraries will be invoiced via EFTS

• Discounted rate does not apply to rush, urgent patient care or color copies

• Libraries will comply with fair use guidelines and copyright law

An initial group of libraries will receive a letter of invitation with more information in the coming week.

Interested libraries may contact Renae Barger, Reference Librarian and Document Delivery Coordinator, at rbarger@pitt.edu or call 412-648-9750 with any questions.  If you need help creating an EFTS account or have questions regarding DOCLINE, please contact the Regional Medical Library at rml@library.med.nyu.edu or toll free at 1-800-338-7657.

Waynesburg University’s Eberly Library (PAULPD) is the newest participant in DOCLINE. Waynesburg University, located in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, supports a strong and growing nursing program along with other allied health programs. Eberly Library will be participating in FreeShare and is moving to join EFTS.  Please join us in welcoming Waynesburg University to DOCLINE.

Molloy College’s James E. Tobin Library (NYUCIK) is the newest participant in DOCLINE. Molloy College, located in Rockville Center, New York, supports a strong and growing nursing program as well as schools of social work and education. The Tobin Library is a member of Long Island Library Resource Council (LILRC), an established group in DOCLINE, and is a participant in EFTS. Please join us in welcoming Molloy College to DOCLINE.