Heath Sciences Librarians Interest Group

As always, Laurel Egan, from St. James Community Hospital and the leader of our MLA Health Sciences Librarians Interest Group, came up with a stimulating and thought-provoking presentation. Lisa Autio, editor of the Montana Medical Libraries Newsletter, Lisa discussed the survey, which she had a large part in conducting, to discover what part public, school, academic, medical, special (non-medical), and other types of libraries played in educating the public on consumer health issues. Questions included library access to the public and health professionals, presence of a Health Information area with various resources, use of MedlinePlus.gov, challenges of providing health information, hosting of training session for health information, and familiarity with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and the National Library of Medicine.

Some comments on the survey included:

1. We are a school library, medical health is a priority as it ties into the curriculum only.
2. A growing number of patrons are interested in learning more about their diagnosed health problems and [it's] hard for us to find up to date information--more than superficial info
3. Our hospital has a small library but it does not seem interested in cooperating with us or the other public libraries in the area.
4. Great demand for consumer health information continues--including demand on campuses.
5. We need more help with interpretation of resources.

Surprisingly, only 78 of 134 respondents were aware of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and the National Library of Medicine and what they do.

Thank you to Laurel, Lisa, and Heidi for some great information and jump-starting our thoughts on what to do next!

Rich

Cates Raffle Winners

The following is a list of items and the winners from the Sheila Cates Scholarship Fund Raffle.

On behalf of the Cates Scholarship Committee, many thanks to all those who donated items and to all those who purchased raffle tickets.

• A Musical Puzzle Box, donated by Virginia Leininger, Kathy Mora's mother. Won by Sheryl Stout.
• Bluebird of happiness, a framed photograph of a bluebird, donated by Dale Alger. Won by Lisa Mecklenberg-Jackson.
• Gallatin Valley Gardening Goodies, donated by the Bozeman Public Library. Won by Ann Walters.
• Set of Lewis & Clark & Sacagawea bears donated by Suzanne Reymer. Won by Jay Selman
• Heavenly Homemades, a collection of homemade goodies donated by the Bitterroot Public Library. Won by Steve White.
• Glacier Reader Basket- Donated by the Flathead County Library. Won by Jan Zauha.
• Make Your Life Sparkle, a basket donated by the Montana State Library, Won by Vivian Yang
• Tea with Dolley includes a free performance of Tea with Dolley Madison. Donated by Cherie Heser, Rosebud County Library. Won by Doug Ferkin.
• Everything you need for a Kitchen Garden Donated by Skyview High School Library. Won by Lynn Zimmerman
• Red Hat Bag Donated by Virginia Leininger. Won by Jill Johnson
• Specialty Chocolates from the Sapphire. Donated by the Darby Community Public Library. Won by Sue Lerdal
• Shhh! It's a Surprise! A mystery item donated by Ve Abrams, Fallon County Library and Diane Van Gorden, Baker MS HS Library. Won by Beth Williams
• MOOSE shoulder bag donated by Suzanne Reymer. Won by Doug Ferkin.
• Librarians Head for the Islands! Donated by Lisa Mecklenberg Jackson. Won by Lois Fitzpatrick.
• Go Griz! basket with assorted University of Montana sports paraphernalia. Donated by Coby Johnson. Won by Jim Kemmerer
• Dragon Dreams, Autographed copies of Eragon and Eldest along with a stuffed dragon. (Saphira blue, of course). Donated by Milla Cummins. Won by Doug Ferkin.
• A Bundle of Books from Montana the Magazine of Western History Won by Magi Malone.
• Librarians for Wellness, Donated by the MSU-Billings Library. Won by Dayl Fredrickson
• Harry Potter the complete set (so far) donated by the Missoula Public Library. Won by Coby Johnson
• Ceramic Pencil made & donated by Darlene Staffeldt. Won by Charlotte Henson
• Relaxation Basket Donated by Virginia Leininger. Won by Nancy Brennan
• Quilted Placemats. 2 sets donated by Carrie & Sinda from the Flathead Valley Community College Library. Won by JoAnn Schutte and Diane Van Gorden.
• Remembering Missoula, a basket from the Fort Missoula Museum Shop. Donated by Coby Johnson. Won by Doug Ferkin
• Framed fireworks photograph donated by Dale Alger Won by Sonja Woods
• Books and CDs by MSU faculty. Won by Lois Fitzpatrick
• Everything's Coming Up Huckleberries Donated by Sami Pierson, Lincoln County Libraries. Won by Cherie Bergeron
• Proceeding on . . . the Garden : A Centennial Potpourri - donated by Lisa Mecklenberg Jackson. Won by Natalie Malaterre.
• MLA Bookends & Books donated by Gloria Curdy. Won by Coby Johnson
• Garden Delight donated by the Golden Plains Library Federation. Won by Milla Cummins.
• 100s of Things to Celebrate 100 Years of MLA donated by the Montana Tech Library Paraprofessionals. Won by Marie Habener
• Trout poster, 2 bowls and notecards donated by Milla Cummins. Won by Bernadine Abbott
• Tea Time donated by Jan Zauha. Won by Cherie Heser.
• Gift Basket donated by Parmly Billings Library. Won by Gloria Curdy.
• Children's Craft Basket donated by Parmly Billings Library. Won by Janet Eidson
• 3 hand-knit scarves donated by Anita Scheetz. Won by Vera Abrams, Vivian Yang, Julie Radtke.
• Just Horsin' Around donated by the Sagebrush Federation. Won by Anita Scheetz.

Winners of the Cates Traveling Quilt are:

Magi Malone / Flathead County Library
Cherie Bergeron / OPI
Alice Meister / Bozeman Public
Karen Havelange / Glasgow Public

Originally posted to Wired-MT by Diane Van Gorden

Assessment workshop

Assessment workshop 2
Originally uploaded by sreymer.

I have to give Brent Roberts credit for being probably the only person alive who could make assessment entertaining and useful. He put us in small groups and had us come up with outcomes to assess for a library program. Hopefully, it will help us all start thinking in those terms when looking at new and existing programs.

ASLD Dinner

Unfortunately I didn't get much of a chance to really enjoy the MLA conference between presenting and running back to the Mansfield Library's reference desk. One excellent event that I did get to attend was the ASLD dinner at the Bridge on Thursday night (confession: I did make the arrangements for this event). 38 academic and special library employees and their friends ate a fine meal while sharing stories and ideas, some of them even work-related, with colleagues. The venue was excellent and the company quite nice. Thanks to all who attended, and I look forward to next year's dinner in Helena!

Finger on the Pulse

On Thursday, 4 May, from 3 to 4:30 I spent some enjoyable time at Brent Roberts' presentation, "Finger on the Pulse: Measuring Your Library's Services for Quality." First of all, Brent is a dynamic speaker and I took notes on his presenation style to incorporate in my own presentations.

According to Brent's presentation, the tasks involved in Outcomes Assessment include six tasks: 1. Select a Program for Outcome Assessment. 2. Determine the Interim and Long-Range Outcomes. 3. Make Outcomes Measurable. 4. Design the Data Plan. 5. Make the Most of Your Results. Interim outcomes are short-term benefits while long-term outcomes become visisble and usable some 2 years after the program.

Mr. Roberts also brought in the relationship of Bloom's Taxonomy to measuring the quality of library services for quality. Results of the study would be best used through interpretation of the results, communication of the results, and using the results to move forward.

Brent recommended a book for further reading: Rubin, R.J. (2006). Demonstrating Results: Using Outcome Measurement in Your Library. Chicago, IL: ALA. OCLC:61451521

Rich

On Parliamentary Procedure

Kudos to Lois Fitzpatrick for a fascinating introduction to parliamentary procedures. I had no idea there was even such a thing as "Robert's Rules" before this talk. According to Lois, one of the main goals of this protocol is to preserve the rights of the minority positions in the debate. Very interesting. Here's a few links if anyone's interested:
Official Robert's Rules page
wikipedia page
Other parliamentary rules

Remote Control Found

We found this remote control as we were packing up equipment from the conference on Sat May 08:





















It probably belongs to a projector brought by one of you to the conference. Please check to see if it might be yours. If it is, please contact Sebastian 406.243.4402 / sebastian.derry@umontana.edu, and we'll get it to you.

Poster Sessions

Two thumbs up for the newly introduced poster session at MLA. I hope it will become a regular feature at future MLA conferences. I realize the displays take considerable time for the person/organization to create, but for the conference attendees they are an excellent way to get quick ideas for one's own library. Among the give-aways, I grabbed brochures on interlibrary loan services, a flier on medicine used by Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery, and the web address for The Institute on Money in State Politics . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

A Last, Lingering Look...

The last presentation I attended was about the NACO Funnel - a tornado, or a sweet from the Northwest Montana fair, as far as I knew. Ah, but no! Name Authority files are the underpinnings, the all - inclusive authority, the foundation upon which the giant Library of Congress bases its reputation as the Big Know-It-All of libraries. And it does so with help from some of the librarians at the conference, who have taken special training to be able to create Name Authority Files and funnel them to the Big One.
Now, don't run screaming from the room, but I found this rather fascinating. Also slightly comical to be listening to the serious discussion of an extra "x" in a format of lines of print with lots of numbers and undecipherable scrambled letters. But after awhile, I kind of got it. Enough to be able to explain it to my roommate on the long drive home.
So the reasons to attend a conference for someone like me, a librarian of five measly months standing? They include:
1. Being served by professionals in the Missoula Public Library. They were great; I want to grow up to be them;
2. Meeting people who helped me get over being intimidated by being a newcomer, and making me feel welcome and valued for the skills I did have, instead of the skills I didn't have - yet;
3. Gaining background on my new profession, and encouraging me to learn more about librarianship - and showing me how to do that;
4. Developing relationships with other librarians, and especially my colleague from the Whitefish Library, and roommate at the conference, Skeeter Johnston;
5. Renewing my friendship with Missoula - and conquering the M trail three times!
So, in parting, I leave you with some photos to remind you of a great conference in a great town:


Fishing under the Madison Street Pedestrian Bridge;
a view from the "M";
"Charging Forward, " a sculpture in front of the Adams Center by Jay Laber (Blackfeet).

Developing Native American Collections

This was most helpful to me because it addressed an important aspect of my job. I learned to identify bias and evaluate Native American literature for stereotypes (intentional and unintentional) -- both in text and in illustrations. I was particularly intrigued by Julie Cajune's request to respect the tradition of only sharing coyote stories during the winter months. I would be happy to honor that tradition, and I wanted to share it with those of you, who like me, didn't know.

Anne Kish

Health Issues in the Headlines

In her session on on "Health Issues in the Headlines: Reading Between the Lines," beginning at 0830 on Thursday morning, Gail Kouame, the Consumer Health Coordinator the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region (University of Washington) left her audience with much food/medicine for thought. During her stimulating presentation, which included chair- if not homework, Gail challenged us to determine the difference between a good and a slipshod consumer health article.

Gail spoke about the background of training of healthcare journalists, the scientist's perspective, the evaluation of news stories and how to follow up for more information, how to analyze a research report for accuracy and relevance, and how to help patrons sift through health news stories to get to the source.

Ms. Kouame also brought us into active learning by having us read some articles and evaluate them at her session. Articles we read and considered using Gail's directions included "Study finds another reasion to eat chocolate: A little chocolate may go a long way to reducing blood pressure" from The Associated Press; `"Is milk to blame for overweight children? Recent studies link dairy consumption, increased body mass in kids" from MSNBC; "Red Wine and Your Heart" from the American Heart Associaiton; and "An Evaluation of Echinacea angustuifolia in Experimental Rhinovirus Infections" from The New England Journal of Medicine. For those who might be interested, I am willing to assist you to evaluate medical information for your patrons. Thank you, Gail for all your great work and inspiration!

Rich Wojtowicz
MSU Libraries--Bozeman
richw@montana.edu
Phone: 406-994-1873
Fax: 406-994-2851

Montana's Special Libraries

No one else has mentioned this seminar, and it was a good one. I didn't know that Montana has so many special libraries (55 mentioned during this workshop.) I love the way Jim Thull, librarian at the Renee Library, MSU Bozeman put it: "All things great and small, brilliant and idiotic, beautiful and ghastly, are housed and preserved for the benefit of ourselves and future generations" in the Creative Arts library where he works, and all of the special libraries.
The libraries reviewed are big and small, serve everyone, or only special populations such as the library in Deer Lodge Prison. Some of the libraries are up to date, such as the State Law Library http://courts.mt.gov/library/default.asp And there's the other end of the spectrum: the Lingenfeller-Hansen Lending Library in Gold Creek is on a ranch, and consists of the original 22 books of the homesteaders - known as a "saddlebag library" because that's how they were transported.
Magi Malone facilitated this seminar, and would probably provide a list of the libraries to you if you asked. (I didn't check this with her first - hope you don't mind, Magi.)

The session this morning, Significant Tidings, was wonderfully informative and exciting: Montana librarians sharing their current research efforts!

Sheila Bonnard & Betsy Garlish shared adventures in virtual reference - reporting on the MLN Cooperative Reference Project, Ask A Montana Librarian
http://montanalibraries.org/AskA/AskA.asp

Samantha Hines discussed her pilot wiki - which she created as a new form of the traditional subject guide for the Journalism Department at the University of Montana-Missoula - check it out at http://umjournalism.pbwiki.com

Donna McCrea, shared her efforts to quickly make archival collections available for researchers in a presentation titled, "Getting Maximum Results from Minimal Processing at the K. Ross Toole Archives" (http://www.lib.umt.edu/dept/arch/arch.htm). Donna, UM-Missoula's Archivist, showed her passion for improving the problematic backlog faced by many archives - using minimal processing - and moving collections into the hands of users.

Heidi Sue Adams, Medical Librarian at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, discussed "Implementing an Informatics Student Project in the Solo Library." She did an excellent project, utilizing a student worker and her idea, to reach out to the Center's nurses - interviewing them to discover what services they wanted from the Library, and responding to those requests through the development of a tailored web portal.

The session concluded with Elaine Higgins & Linder Schlang's work on UM-Missoula Mansfield Library's Diversity Committee. "How Diverse is Your Library?" The Experience of Mansfield Library's Diversity Efforts" explored the formation of a Diversity Committee at the Library (including defining diversity and the Committee's charge), programs the Committee organized for library employees on diversity, the in-house creation of a Diversity Cookbook, and the acquisition of display cases for the Library that often highlight diversity collections.

There is lot we can learn and share with each other in Montana libraries - this session made this point, poignantly.

Cates evening

Bruce & Pat
Originally uploaded by sreymer.

Many different eras were represented at the Cates' fundraiser. Bruce & Pat represent some of our pre-21st century colleagues learning to have fun.



My favorite cowlets
Originally uploaded by sreymer.

This team of intrepid public librarians may not have been the ultimate winners but they sure raked in the dough.

One useful tidbit I learned was, if your team is to have a reasonable chance at not being humiliated in Montana trivia, it pays to have at least one native Montanan on your team.

Walking Tour of Historic Missoula

MissoulaTour1
Originally uploaded by kzlibrarian.

Yesterday afternoon a group of Montana librarians, including myself, took a sunny stroll - a Walking Tour of Historic Missoula. The Tour was led by Allan James Mathews, famed local author of A Guide to Historic Missoula (which can be purchased in the Exhibit Hall, Montana Historical Society). We learned about many of the downtown historic buildings, including exceptional preservation efforts by Missoula's Historic Preservation Commission (http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/mayor/HistoricPresv.htm). Check out the pictures of the Studebaker Building, Higgins Block, and others by selecting the flickr: Montana Libraries link on the right.

Missoula Public Library reception

Good food -- good drinks -- good people -- good fun! Last night Missoula Public Library hosted an inviting reception. It was a great opportunity to explore the library and relax to the tunes of the groovy musicians. Thank you to the MPL staff for putting this reception together!

Anne Kish

Favorite Things Day One

Ulp...I'm behind everybody on blogging - but here's a collage from Wednesday's activities:
Early morning birdwatching along the Clark Fork - peaceful and reflective. Tour to Fort Missoula - rambunctious and funny. The question we all wanted to ask Ruth Royter, our tour leader, was why a fake log in the museum? Aren't there any spare logs left in MT to use?
A nice walk to Mansfield for the reception with Keith Michael Fiels. He was good-natured when I got a little lost...can anyone tell him how to keep ranunculus alive? Lovely classical trio in the library - and food and wine wasn't bad either.
Overall - librarians are wonderfully friendly people. I'm glad I am one...and this is just the first day!

Funding Digital and Preservation Projects

Presenter: Gayle Palmer, OCLC Western Service Center
Digital and Preservation Services Manager
gayle_palmer@oclc.org

Good News! Lots of $ is out there for digital and preservation projects! So, where is it? Finding the $ is the hard part, but Gayle broke it down. She gave us tips on proposal writing and a list of resources to get us started on creating our own fund-finder lists.

I lingered after class for some one-on-one time with Gayle. She encourages any of you out there to contact her if you need info or advice. In addition to benefitting libraries, her expertise is just as applicable to museums and historical societies.

--Anne Kish

Oo-la-la--it's Sheila Cates night!

Don't forget to attend the Sheila Cates Trivia Mania event tonight, Thursday, May 4 at 8 p.m. in ballrooms B & C. Food, fun, challenge, drinks--it all can be yours if you attend. Don't miss one of the most exciting events of the conference!

Montana Memory Project, what's in it for you.

As Jason Clark, Steve McCann and I found out, digitization continues to be a very popular topic for Montana librarians. And scare resources in terms of funding, staff or volunteer time and equipment continue to be daunting challenges that must be overcome.

The Montana Memory Project is a growing working group of librarians committed to bringing to life a statewide digital initiative. At this time the work group would like to hear from you. Do you have content that you would like to digitize? Do you have the resources you need to create and publish digital content? If not, what do you need to make this a reality for you?

If this topic is of interest to you and your library please feel free to share your comments and concerns here.

Also please remember to comment on this topic and all the goals and objectives presented by the State Library. Online comments may be submitted at:

http://montanalibraries.org/BusinessPlan/BPinvite.asp

Jennie Stapp

Opening Reception--Mansfield Library

The great folks at UM's Mansfield Library provided us with a wonderful welcome on Wednesday, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, plying our pallettes with delicious food and drink and relaxing our ears with three very talented string musicians. They did not seem to mind (or were unaware of) the presence of Cats in Grizzly territory.

It was a pleasure to reconnect with new and seasoned colleagues from whom I consistently learn new things about life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and other important stuff.

Rich

Keynote address

Keynote address
Originally uploaded by sreymer.

Keith Michael Fiels, ALA Executive Director, talked about some of the issues he considers crucial to libraries:

• Library funding and advocacy as a way to sustain/increase library funding.
• Planning at local, state and federal level.
• Libraries have to be seen key players in education.
• We want to improve library services by attracting the best and brightest to the field - provide training at all levels, resource sharing and recognizing outstanding service as well as that which needs improvement.
• Improve library salaries one librarian at a time.
• Libraries and librarians improve the world by serving all, promoting diversity, fighting to protect the constitutional rights of library users, fighting to keep information free and accessible for all, and helping to develop libraries internationally.

In answer to the question, will libraries survive? Keith was optimistic. He thinks we need to be part of an emerging virtual learing commnity. Not only will public and school libraries continue to serve the have nots, but they also provide a sense of community for all generations.

Every library should be linked by technology and by people who know how to use it.

He ended by letting the audience know that what we do is incredbily important to our communities and the world.

New Members Breakfast

The Thursday, 7:00 am!!! breakfast for new and "vintage" members, organized by our dedicated, hard-working Director's at Large , Gail Wilkerson (East) and Magi Malone (West), went swimmingly and seems to have been enjoyed by the new members who attended. Consisting of coffee, some curly baked goods, cake donuts, two or three types of muffins, assorted fruit slices with strawberries, and a selection of juices, this breakfast lubricated the way for some great conversation and gave us the opportunity to get to know each other a little better.

Gail and Magi told us what to expect from the Conference and the opportunities we had for getting as much out of it as we hoped. They also introduced MLA Board members and others in the organization to help us remember names and associate them with faces. A drawing was held for several small door prizes--none of which ended up in my bag of booty.

If I can do anything to assist you, our new members (or old ones) please feel free to contact me at richw@montana.edu.

Welcome to all our new and vintage members!

Rich

Library Instruction as Outreach

Bright and early this morning, I was treated to a presentation by UM librarians Sue Samson, Samarantha Hines, and Jennie Burroughs. The Mansfield Librarians offer library instruction effectively by dividing their users into unique user groups and tailoring their instruction programs to the special needs of each group. Targeted user groups include: first-year students, second-year students, upper-division students, grad students, faculty, adjuncts, TAs, campus administration, distance students, the community in general, teachers, businesses, health professionals, seniors, and government agencies. Whew! This library instruction program is really NOT one-size-fits-all!
Interestingly, Sue noted that, although undergrads are the most visible library users and the instructors don't frequent the library as often, the faculty are treated as the primary users. After all, they are the folks requiring all of the students to use the library.
This presentation went far beyond a show-and-tell presentation about what the Mansfield library is doing. It was an interactive multimedia presentation designed to help attendees develop library instruction programs for their own libraries. Each attendee received a take-home folder complete with a power point and a workbook with activities that enhanced the presentation. For more information about the UM library instruction programs, contact any of the 3 gracious presenters.
--Anne Kish

New Members' Breakfast

New Members' Breakfast
Originally uploaded by sreymer.

The conference started out bright and early at 7am with a breakfast for new and vintage members.

A good chance to get introduced to the movers and shakers (and those intrepid enough to be up at 7am).

Dedicated to My Heroes

We made it to Missoula and settled for the night at Goldsmith's Bed and Breakfast. "We" includes my husband, who just came off his ship . Bad timing for a conference!
Tomorrow he leaves, and I get to room with my fellow new librarian from Whitefish, Skeeter. Hee hee, it's going to be so fun!
We want to thank Our Heroes at Whitefish Branch Library for working while Skeeter and I get to come to the conference...Thanks Joey and Billie! Thunk those books!
Telling people I'm going to a Library Conference gets some hilarious responses. Everybody thinks we're all elderly females with our hair in a bun and chains on our reading glasses. "Oh, that'll be fun...watcha gonna do, read aloud to each other? Stay up until 8:30?"
Oh well, they don't have to know. And by the way, my reading glasses are on a really neat chain.

Final Schedule Posted

Find it here: Final Schedule (pdf version)

Last Minute Schedule Change ...

Via Elaine Higgins:

In the 2nd program session, Thurs. afternoon, 1:00-2:30, it will be Karen Strege and Lisa Wozniak [for the "Library Practitioner Certification and E-Learning Opportunities" program].

Additionally, during the break Thurs. afternoon [2:30-3], there will be a get-together of those interested in the MLA Calendar of Librarians.

Missoulian article

Missoulian article
Originally uploaded by stevemtzn.

The Centennial conference has made the papers. Check out the image (or better yet, buy a paper) or read another article at the Missoulian