A new study that has just been released has found that one-third of the US population uses their public library for internet computer use.  Nearly half of the 14-18 year olds surveyed have used the library in the past year and a quarter of them reported using library computers at least once a week.

Forty percent of the respondents stated they use the computers to find employment while thirty seven percent were looking for health related information.

The executive summary is available in pdf with a breakdown of responses and demographics.

You can also read the full report and methodology online.

NN/LM MAR Announces Spring 2010 Online Classes

It’s time to spring back to school with the Middle Atlantic Region! Join MAR staff and network members for online classes in April – May, 2010 —all you need is an Internet-connected computer and a telephone. Classes are FREE.

To sign up for a class, e-mail us at rml@med.nyu.edu with the title and date of the class (es) you wish to attend. Please include your name, e-mail address, and mailing address.

Please do not re-post this message without permission. If you have questions or comments, email us at rml@med.nyu.edu for further assistance.

Clever Evaluation
Date: Wednesday April 7, 2010 Time: 11:30a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Evaluating programs and projects is a lot like exercising: most of us know it’s very important and we plan to start doing it as soon as we have time. Cindy Olney, evaluation specialist for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Outreach Evaluation Resource Center (OERC), will present a 90-minute session on evaluation methods that are quick, resourceful, and useful. Her strategies include using existing data, combining evaluation with other project activities, and enlisting the help of others in data collection. Cindy Olney has been an evaluation specialist since 1991 and has worked with the OERC since 2004. She specializes in planning and evaluation of health information outreach and public health projects.

Valuing Library Services and Cost Benefit/ROI Calculators

Guest Speakers: Betsy Kelly, Assessment and Evaluation Liaison (NN/LM MCR) & Barb Jones, Advocacy Liaison (NN/LM MCR)

Date: Thursday April 22, 2010 Time: 2:30-4:00 PM

MAR is hosting an online class to enable health sciences librarians to determine the return on investment and cost benefit of their libraries and services. The instructors will discuss and demonstrate two tools to show the value a library brings to its institution:

1. The Retail Value Calculator, adapted from one originally provided by the Massachusetts Library Association, and then adapted for the web by Chelmsford Public Library, helps to determine the library’s worth to the institution, and how much would it cost to replace library services on the retail market;
2. The CBA and ROI Calculator helps to determine a library’s contribution to the institutional bottom line, and how much benefit the institution (i.e., the patrons) receives for every dollar spent by the library.

Free Productivity Tools

Date: April 27, 2010 Time: 2:00-3:30.

Library’s budgets are always pinched for one thing or another. Did you know that there are a multitude of free software packages out there that do just about everything that commercial software packages can do? In this 90-minute class we’ll take a look at some of these software packages, their usefulness, their limitations and things to think about if you decide to go the free software route.

Basic Nutrition Resources

Date: May 18, 2010 Time: 10-11am.

Consumers, students, clinicians, and you!  Where do you begin when looking for nutrition information for consumers or for clinicians?  This course will take you through basic resources available to you from NLM, NIH, and others.  We will also briefly review how to search for nutrition information literature.

Neil Romanosky, MAR Network Services Coordinator, will be attending the ILLiad International Conference in Virginia Beach, VA, 3/24-3/26.  Neil will be at the Medical Libraries Roundtable on 3/25 and the scheduled updates and social events. You can also reach him by email at neil.romanosky@med.nyu.edu before or during the conference if you would like to meet.

We apologize, but there are networking issues with the Webcast.  The technical team is working on it and we hope to have it resolved for the RAC meeting which begins today at 12:00p.m.. We will be recording the meeting nonetheless. Additionally, minutes of the meeting will be available on the MAR Website in the future.

NN/LM MAR is pleased to announce that on March 15, 2010 Neil Romanosky joined the NN/LM MAR staff as Network Services Coordinator.  Neil received his MSLIS from Pratt Institute, and a MS in Communication and Information Studies from Rutgers University.  Most recently, Neil served as Interlibrary Loan & Delivery Services Librarian at Columbia University, New York, NY. Before joining the library profession, Neil held senior editing positions in the publishing industry. In 2009 Neil was named an ALA Emerging Leader under sponsorship from Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). Please join me in welcoming Neil to the NN/LM MAR.  Neil can be reached at the following address: neil.romanosky@med.nyu.edu .

In an effort to make YouTube videos more accessible to the hearing impaired, Google will now allow their Auto-caption software to be used on all English language videos.   The captioning is done by voice recognition software so it may not be perfect depending on the voice track, background noise, etc. Google also plans to expand it to other languages eventually.

Read more about from the official YouTube Blog

Colleen Cuddy

We are delighted to announce that Colleen Cuddy has been named Interim Director, NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region. She assumed her duties on January 1, 2010.

Colleen joined NYULMC in 1998 and has served the library in many capacities.  In 2007, after a national search, she was promoted to Deputy Director of the NYU Health Sciences Libraries and received promotion as Associate Curator in the NYU Curator track in the same year.  A nationally recognized leader in the field, Colleen has specialized in technology and systems applications in libraries.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Library Information Technology Association and is the Chair of the Medical Informatics Section of the Medical Library Association.  She has been the recipient of two prestigious fellowships supported by the National Library of Medicine, the AAHSL/NLM Leadership Program and the NLM/MBL Bioinformatics Program in Woods Hole, MA.

Please join us in congratulating Colleen on her appointment and in thanking Dr. Karen Brewer, who retired at the beginning of this year, for her many contributions in her role as Director.