The Commonwealth Medical College – Medical Library is Open for Business!
On Behalf of Joanne Muellenbach:
Dear Colleagues,
I am very pleased to announce that the Medical Library at The Commonwealth Medical College (TCMC), in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is officially open for business. TCMC’s inaugural class of 65 medical students began class at 8:00am this morning. Another 30 students will begin class next week for the master’s in biomedical sciences program. TCMC marks the first opening of a medical degree-granting school in the state since 1962. It is the first M.D. school not associated with a larger university to open nationwide in at least 35 years.
Last Sunday, our medical students began a full week of orientation, which included 2 full days, and 1 night, of outdoor activities at Camp LaDore, just 1 hour east of Scranton in beautiful northeastern Pennsylvania. At camp, students, faculty and staff participated in team building and new skills training, taught by faculty & staff. Skills activities included fly-fishing, kayaking, canoeing, yoga, salsa dance, bocce ball and quilt making. My hope is to have a TCMC Charter Class quilt to adorn the Medical Library in the near future!
As construction progresses on our new 120 million Medical Sciences Building, which is scheduled to open in 2011, students are attending classes just a few blocks away, at Lackawanna College. Lackawanna College is also the temporary home of the Medical Library, our Gross Anatomy Lab, the Clinical Skills & Simulation Center, Student Affairs and other departments with an academic focus. The Medical Library reports to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and comprises 2 professional librarians, including myself, and three support staff. A third librarian will be recruited in 2010 and a fourth librarian will be recruited in 2011. The Office of Academic Informatics works closely with the Medical Library to provide students, faculty & staff with instruction and training in the areas of information management and retrieval, literature searching and evidence based medicine.
The TCMC Medical Library is 95% electronic and all of our students are provided with laptops, portable printers and wireless cards. The Medical Library provides access to over 13,000 e-journals, 1,400 e-books and 50 biomedical databases. Our print collections consist of 125 reserve titles, 200 core biomedical titles, as well as reference and leisure reading collections.
The TCMC Medical Library website may be accessed at: http://tinyurl.com/ncsbcu. This will take you to the TCMC’s Community tab. From this page, click on the link to TCMC Medical Library, under: TCMC Library Services.
The Medical Library is a member of DOCLINE, so feel free to add us to an appropriate cell.
Finally, I want to extend special thanks to Barbara Shearer, who worked as a Library Consultant for TCMC during the early days of TCMC’s development and who continues to provide me with her invaluable assistance and expertise. I also appreciate the support that I receive from my AAHSL colleagues, whose wisdom and generosity has been a tremendous help in getting the Medical Library to where we are today.
Thank you, all!
Joanne
Joanne M. Muellenbach, MLS, AHIP
Director, Medical Library
The Commonwealth Medical College
501 Vine Street, Ground Floor
Scranton, Pennsylvania 18509
T: 570.504.9627
F: 570.504.9618
