In this issue:
Dental Resource Guide from Healthnet
Health
Data Retrieval Tools:
CDC Wonder
Wireless Classroom in the Library Coming Soon!!
NetLibrary
: A Collection of
E-Books
Web Watcher - Global Events and Public Health Sources
Courtesy
Notice for
Overdue Books
Editor:
Robert M. Joven, MLS
Information & Education Services
Ext. 8493 E-mail - joven@uchc.edu
The Director’s Report
by Ralph D. Arcari, Ph.D
Director, Lyman Maynard Stowe Library
The architectural renovation plans for the Library have been displayed
for the past year adjacent to the information services desk on the main
floor. However, implementation of these plans will not take place until
sufficient capital equipment funding is available from the State Bonding
Commission. In the meantime, several steps will be taken to improve the
current configuration and services of the Library.
The Library will provide wireless access to the Internet prior to the commencement of the next academic year. A technical assessment was made to determine how many transponders would be required to provide wireless service to the Library’s three floors and orders have been placed for their purchase and installation. When UCHC incoming students receive their wireless laptops this Fall, they will be able to use this equipment in the Library in addition to the lecture halls and classrooms.
Also underway is the use of rooms in the library for computer training sessions. This type of training will be accomplished in the Library through twelve laptop computers which can be set up and taken down as needed for a specific time and class. These laptops will reside on a cart when they are not in use. Potential locations for training within the Library include the group study rooms and the History of Medicine room. This approach will allow space to be used in multifunctional capacities. New laptops will also be available for in library use from the Circulation Desk by those with a UCHC Library borrowing card.
A new reference desk is on order to replace the desk inherited in the mid-1980s as a corporate donation from a Connecticut firm that was downsizing its home office operations. The new desk will be located opposite the location of the present desk under the soffit where public access computer work stations are now located. These workstations will be placed where the reference desk used to be and alongside a series of other public access workstations. The new reference desk will combine the functions of the two desks now in use, the public service desk and the computer workstation which the reference librarians use. The new location will help alleviate the effect that the drafts in the high ceiling area of the Library has had on Library staff at the reference desk.
Relocation of the back runs of old indexes on the main floor to the sub-basement will free up space for reading and study. The shelving holding this material will be dismantled and study carrels stored in the sub-basement will be brought up to the main floor.
A library liaison and outreach program has been initiated with UCHC departments. The purpose of this program is to respond to the changed library environment in which usage of Library resources is heavily electronic through access to e-journals and databases emanating from the Library’s homepage. There are now over 250,000 accesses to the Library homepage annually. Usage patterns therefore reflect a decrease in personal visits and trips to the Library. To maintain and improve communication with our patrons, librarians will be available to attend departmental meetings to learn the information requirements of the department and to update the department’s faculty and graduate students on current library resources and educational opportunities. Liaison activities are now in place with the departments of Psychiatry, Complementary Medicine, Nursing, Medical Residency and the Women’s Health program. Departments interested in the library liaison and outreach program should contact the Library Director.
In short, although major renovation is still in the planning stage, changes in the Library to improve its service orientation are being implemented now.