Beginning 24 July 2006, EBSCO A-to-Z® subject classifications will broaden to include Medical - enabling hospital and other libraries to offer their users a more precise search.
Including Medical, the choices for subject classifications are:
· General - Uses subject terms found within EBSCO’s “The Serials Directory” (a reference guide with bibliographic and pricing information for serials).
· Library of Congress - Uses subject terms from the Library of Congress Classification scheme (see http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html).
· Medical - Uses a blend of subject terms from both the National Library of Medicine’s “List of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE” and General subject terms.
Particularly useful for hospital and other medical libraries.
Note: Only one subject classification can be chosen at a time.
You can explore these updated options in A-to-Z Admin the “Reader Site Customization” feature by clicking the Display Options tab.
Questions? Contact A-to-Z Customer Care at 1-877-327-2622 (U.S.A. and Canada) or +1-205-981-4000 (Worldwide), Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. – 5 p.m., CDT. Select option 2, then option 1. Fax: +1.205.408.6190. Email: atozfeedback@ebsco.com
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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Thursday, July 06, 2006
June 29, 2006
10,000 EPA SCIENTISTS PROTEST LIBRARY CLOSURES -- Loss of Access to Collections Will Hamper Emergency Response and Research. Washington, DC --
In an extraordinary letter of protest, representatives for 10,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists are asking Congress to stop the Bush administration from closing the agency's network of technical research libraries. The EPA scientists, representing more than half of the total agency workforce, contend thousands of scientific studies are being put out of reach, hindering emergency preparedness, anti-pollution enforcement and long-term research, according to the letter released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
In his proposed budget for FY 2007, President Bush deleted $2 million of support for EPA's libraries, amounting to 80% of the agency's total budget for libraries. Without waiting for Congress to act, EPA has begun shuttering libraries, closing access to collections and reassigning staff.. The letter notes that "EPA library services are [now] greatly reduced or no longer available to the general public" in agency regional offices serving 19 states.
The letter representing more than 10,000 EPA scientists, engineers and other technical specialists was sent to Congressional appropriators this morning and states:
"The ability of EPA to respond to emergencies will be reduced" due to a diminishing access to "the latest research on cutting-edge homeland security and public health" topics; ? Approximately 50,000 original research documents will become completely unavailable because they are not available electronically and the agency has no budget for digitizing them; and
The public and academic researchers may lose any access to EPA library materials as services to the public are being axed and there are no plans to maintain "the inter-library loan process."
"Eliminating library access is an absolutely awful way to run an agency devoted to public and environmental health," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "For example, important research on the Chesapeake Bay is locked away in boxes since EPA closed its Ft. Meade library this February, yet EPA still maintains that restoring the Chesapeake is a top priority."
The dogged insistence by the Bush administration on a $2 million cut in an overall EPA budget of nearly $8 billion is particularly curious. EPA internal studies show that providing full library access saves an estimated 214,000 hours in professional staff time worth some $7.5 million annually, an amount far larger than the total agency library budget of $2.5 million.
"The Bush administration apparently decided that it was politically easier to close the libraries than to burn the books, although the end result will be the same," Ruch added, noting that the EPA Administrator brushed aside an earlier request by the scientist unions to bargain about the library shutdowns internally.
In their letter, the EPA scientists cite library closures as "one more example of the Bush administration's effort to suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics." At the same time, other outside observers, such as the Chair of EPA's own Science Advisory Board, are expressing growing concerns over the viability and coherence of EPA's research program.
Read more!
10,000 EPA SCIENTISTS PROTEST LIBRARY CLOSURES -- Loss of Access to Collections Will Hamper Emergency Response and Research. Washington, DC --
In an extraordinary letter of protest, representatives for 10,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists are asking Congress to stop the Bush administration from closing the agency's network of technical research libraries. The EPA scientists, representing more than half of the total agency workforce, contend thousands of scientific studies are being put out of reach, hindering emergency preparedness, anti-pollution enforcement and long-term research, according to the letter released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
In his proposed budget for FY 2007, President Bush deleted $2 million of support for EPA's libraries, amounting to 80% of the agency's total budget for libraries. Without waiting for Congress to act, EPA has begun shuttering libraries, closing access to collections and reassigning staff.. The letter notes that "EPA library services are [now] greatly reduced or no longer available to the general public" in agency regional offices serving 19 states.
The letter representing more than 10,000 EPA scientists, engineers and other technical specialists was sent to Congressional appropriators this morning and states:
"The ability of EPA to respond to emergencies will be reduced" due to a diminishing access to "the latest research on cutting-edge homeland security and public health" topics; ? Approximately 50,000 original research documents will become completely unavailable because they are not available electronically and the agency has no budget for digitizing them; and
The public and academic researchers may lose any access to EPA library materials as services to the public are being axed and there are no plans to maintain "the inter-library loan process."
"Eliminating library access is an absolutely awful way to run an agency devoted to public and environmental health," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "For example, important research on the Chesapeake Bay is locked away in boxes since EPA closed its Ft. Meade library this February, yet EPA still maintains that restoring the Chesapeake is a top priority."
The dogged insistence by the Bush administration on a $2 million cut in an overall EPA budget of nearly $8 billion is particularly curious. EPA internal studies show that providing full library access saves an estimated 214,000 hours in professional staff time worth some $7.5 million annually, an amount far larger than the total agency library budget of $2.5 million.
"The Bush administration apparently decided that it was politically easier to close the libraries than to burn the books, although the end result will be the same," Ruch added, noting that the EPA Administrator brushed aside an earlier request by the scientist unions to bargain about the library shutdowns internally.
In their letter, the EPA scientists cite library closures as "one more example of the Bush administration's effort to suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics." At the same time, other outside observers, such as the Chair of EPA's own Science Advisory Board, are expressing growing concerns over the viability and coherence of EPA's research program.
Read more!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
I am very excited to be writing this post to you as your new MDMLG president. The past year as President-Elect and Program Committee chair has been busy, exciting and rewarding. We are all extremely lucky to have such an active local organization. The Professional Development Committee has brought us not one but two CE opportunities this year, one of which is free. The Program Committee offered diverse programs from library accessibility for the disabled to advocating for your library to Feng Shui for the library. The contributions of the Executive Board and all of the Committee Chairs is vital to helping MDMLG be all that it can be. And this cannot be done without you, the members.
With limited funding, resources and time it can be difficult to put together programming that will be relevant to all of our members all of the time. MDMLG is only as good as the participants. The committees take into consideration suggestions and comments from a variety of sources, including meeting surveys, emails and conversations. Every effort is made to provide programs and courses the serve everyone's needs.
This is the time of year where the new Committee Chairs are looking for members so this is your chance to have your say in what MDMLG offers during the next year. In addition to assisting in programming, Committee members also get AHIP points and a chance to get to know MDMLG members better. If you are interested in becoming a committee member just contact the committee chair. And, as always, if you have any concerns, questions or suggestions feel free to contact me.
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With limited funding, resources and time it can be difficult to put together programming that will be relevant to all of our members all of the time. MDMLG is only as good as the participants. The committees take into consideration suggestions and comments from a variety of sources, including meeting surveys, emails and conversations. Every effort is made to provide programs and courses the serve everyone's needs.
This is the time of year where the new Committee Chairs are looking for members so this is your chance to have your say in what MDMLG offers during the next year. In addition to assisting in programming, Committee members also get AHIP points and a chance to get to know MDMLG members better. If you are interested in becoming a committee member just contact the committee chair. And, as always, if you have any concerns, questions or suggestions feel free to contact me.
Read more!