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MDMLG Newsvolume 26 number 1
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Beth Salzwedel, Editor Table of ContentsPresident's Message President's MessageDear MDMLG Members, This is not quite the letter I expected to write, I thought I would be agonizing over the need to write an inspiring, far-sighted address. Instead, this letter wrote itself and is meant to update you of changes in the organization and invite you to participate. This year will reflect a new, more streamlined organizational structure and changes in how Group members communicate. A professional association is a reflection of its members. Members choose what they will support by formal means such as a vote and informal means, i.e., meeting attendance, volunteering for committee work. This year's committees have the necessary members to carry out the goals of the Group with one notable exception; there is no Newsletter Editor. I wasn’t able to fill the Communications Committee Chair vacancy. Another opening which was difficult to fill was the Professional Development Committee Chair. These two events impact our Group in differing ways. First, I'd like to focus on the lack of Editor for the MDMLG News. Not having an Editor, forced me to rethink the cost and work associated with producing a print version of the newsletter. The most reasonable solution seemed to be to go digital. Consequently, the newsletter will become a part of the MDMLG web page with the September issue. This transition comes a bit more abruptly than I would have liked but I am very excited about the change. Changing to a web format is an excellent use of our talents and resources as well as being economically sensible. Alexia Estabrook and I will serve as Co-Chairs of the Communications Committee and I will serve as Acting Editor for one year. Alexia has agreed to continue as Web Master and is responsible for mounting the web version of the MDMLG News two weeks before each MDMLG General Meeting. Look for articles on Dorothy Hill, Docline changes and a summary of the new organizational structure on September 9th at the new web page address www.mdmlg.org I’m hoping the change doesn’t pose a hardship to members and anyone without web access should contact Alexia or me. Please be patient as the committee works to perfect the latest newsletter. Better yet, volunteer to help make it better. Regarding the difficulty of finding a Professional Development Chair, I find it to be troubling on a professional level. At a time when this committee is truly in need of strong leadership, ideas and direction, no one volunteered and several people declined my request. The reasons are familiar; I have felt the same way. Continuing education is a marathon and it’s tiring; in fact, it's exhausting. I believe the change in work duties, the pace, the extent and expectations of our jobs is representative of most professionals in our field. However, no one else understands or is able to address your challenges like your colleagues. One of the values of a professional organization is synergy; our combined efforts accomplish more in total than the sum of our individual efforts. I also believe this Group can apply that synergy to a challenge you currently face at work. MDMLG is reflecting the variety of choices we face as professionals. Do we need a paper copy of the newsletter or can digital words & pictures communicate effectively? Do we need professional development such as continuing education classes, brown bag lunches and a committee that communicates technology updates to the Group? We face these questions today. How do you feel about these changes? If you don't like them, get involved. If they excite you, get involved. If you don't care either way, get involved, find an interest that inspires you to brush off those dusty running shoes. Take this year and consider, knowing the choice you make is reflected by your professional organizations. With warm regards, Beth A. Salzwedel Featured Speaker for
September Meeting
Dorothy R. Hill is noted for many
accomplishments. We all know her as
the Hill half of Brandon-Hill Selected List of Books and Journals for the
Small Medical Library. This
list has become the Bible of book buying for so many of us. We are thankful for
the guidance this tool has provided over the years as some of us have entered
into some pretty horrible library situations.
My first Library was arranged into categories; Surgery, Internal
Medicine, and a range called Potpourri. Nancy Bulgarelli arrived at a library
where all the books had been arranged by color: all the yellow books together,
all the red books together. Nancy figured some starving artists for moving
people had been hired. The famous book list was started by
Alfred N. Brandon, M.S., M.A., a medical
library consultant who saw the need for a core list of books and journals when
he was at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Its initial publication was
greeted with instant popularity. This
list provided a document for hospital librarians that contained contemporary
books and journals recommended by an authoritative source. It was also a means
for hospital librarians to impress on the minds of their administrators the true
cost of assembling a library collection as the prices of the books and journals
were included in the list. Dorothy became involved with the list
when she was working at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine , City University of New
York, as an acquisitions librarian. She
handled many books in a day and began calling Alfred. Brandon's attention to
items she thought should be considered for the Brandon list. He began asking her
opinion on titles for the list. She emerged as co-author of the list in
1979. Alfred Brandon felt the purpose of the medical book was to provide basic
knowledge rather than the cutting edge of technology. The list reflects this
outlook and remains the standard for the hospital library collection; the one
tool every medical librarian who ever had to choose a book uses. Gay
Byrnes Docline2000From: Rosalyn
M. Leiderman, Collection Access Section, National Library of Medicine The tentative
schedule for release of the Web-based DOCLINE system is December 1. In
response to users concerns regarding the use of Internet Explorer v 5.0, NLM has AT&T FTS2000 ELHILL DOCUSERS FEATURES TEST SITE USER COMMENTS QUICKDOC Laura Lewis MDMLG Executive Board ReportIn order to
reflect current library activities, the responsibilities of some Executive Board EXECUTIVE
BOARD STRUCTURE COMMITTEE STRUCTURE
Basically the
changes accomplished the following: A streamlined
Committee structure with Executive Board Members taking on additional Keir
Reavie will be responsible for the Public Relations functions such as the
MDMLG Similarly,
Membership Services will be handled by Executive Board member Gina
Hug. Jill
VanBuskirk AnnouncementsMDMLG General Business Meeting The next General Business Meeting is Thursday, September 23, 1999 at Providence Hospital and Medical Centers. Details about this and future meetings can be found at the Meetings page. Patty Scholl can now officially put MLIS after her name. She graduated from Wayne State University in May and is looking forward to having some free time which isn't devoted to schoolwork. Congratulations to Patty! Daria Drobny had an article published in the spring issue of Topics in Spinal Cord Rehabilitation entitled Rehabilitation and Disability Resources on the Internet (1999;4(4):56-64). Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of the article can contact Daria at (313)745-9862. Well done, Daria! LeaAnn McGaugh, formerly of St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, is now the Manager at the McLaren General Hospital Medical Library. We will miss LeaAnn. Ken Nelson, formerly of Marquette General Hospital Library, will soon be the Library Manager at St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital Reicker Memorial Library in Ann Arbor. Ken starts September 21, 1999. Welcome Ken! Barbara Platts, formerly of William Beaumont Hospital in Troy is now the Library Director at Bon Secours Cottage Health Services. We wish Barb well in her new position. Diana Balint has returned to POH Medical Centers after a speedy recovery from her surgery. Welcome back Diana! Beth Salzwedel will soon be leaving Henry Ford Hospital to become the Director of the Information Center at the advertising agency of D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. Congratulations to Beth on her new position! Alexia Estabrook
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