Executive Summary
The self-study Committee on the Library reviewed the report of the 1993 Committee on the Library, the survey team comments and the self-study questions and database questionnaire. After considering the current status of the Library, student and faculty surveys, benchmarking from national databases and visits to other libraries, the committee proposed the following ten recommendations that are discussed in the body of this report.
1) Continue the 1998-1999 levels of budget commitment to the Library.
2) Continue the Friends of the Library Program.
3) Assign to the Library a higher priority of fundraising for the collection and other endowment programs.
4) Appoint a Task Force to develop a library-facility, strategic plan that would include analysis of increased use of clinical-affiliate space.
5) Fund the Library renovation request to unify separate computer and service areas into a single area on the ground floor of the Library to improve computer availability, technical support for users and library service space.
6) Develop a capital plan to support Library public and staff technology needs.
7) Develop better ways to integrate the teaching and learning of information
management and computer skills in the curriculum by:
· Providing Library liaison to courses or departments
· Formal membership on module committees, clerkship committees
· Create information skills curriculum committee with Library staff,
academic computing staff, and course directors.
8) Involve Library in planning for off-site instruction in the clerkship years.
9) Appoint a standing Library Committee representing faculty, student, clinical, hospital and administration constituencies to advise on policy, communicate about issues of mutual concern and to advocate for the Library.
10) Continue active Library participation in Information Technology planning and program efforts.
Introduction
Mission Statement
The mission of the Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library is, "to
enhance learning, research and patient care at New York University Medical
Center by effectively managing knowledge-based resources, providing client-centered
information services and education, and extending access through new initiatives
in information technology."
This mission statement, which was written in 1990, is still pertinent today. Although there has been a corporate restructuring, the Ehrman Medical Library is still explicitly charged to support the HSO as well as the School of Medicine.
The Library also administers the Environmental Medicine library at Sterling Forest, the NYU Downtown Hospital library, the library of the Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute, and the library of the NYU College of Dentistry.
The library director reports to the Dean of the School of Medicine and has no formal relationship with the Bobst Library of the University in Washington Square. However, there is a growing informal cooperative relationship with Bobst that benefits both. All librarians are on the tenure track in the School of Medicine. The relationship with the library of Mount Sinai School of Medicine is collegial, informal, and beneficial.
Within the New York City area, the library is an integral part of the library, resource-sharing community. The School has a seat on the Board of the Medical Library Center of New York, and is a member of METRO, the state's multi-type library regional cooperative system. The library is also an active participant in the National Library of Medicine's regional programs through the New York Academy of Medicine.
Karen Brewer, the Director, heads the Library. There are three associate directors, for Library Systems, for Collection Management and for Public Services, and an associate director for the College of Dentistry Library. These five persons make up the management team of the Library.
All but one professional staff member have been newly recruited within the past nine years. They are enthusiastic and creative and consistently present papers and posters at a variety of national meetings. The staff is eager to be on the forefront of medical librarianship and works hard to incorporate new technologies into the delivery of services and is praised by all constituencies for the excellence of its digital "collection." Examples are the integration of electronic resources into the on-line catalog, the extensive use of the Website for interactive service delivery, the development of an extensive, library-operational Intranet, the creation of special databases, and use of Metadata in cataloging {1}. The Library was just approved as the only medical library participant in a national project to catalog the Web using Metadata.
{1} See http://library.med.nyu.edu/.
Yet, the bottom line for all the staff is the appropriate delivery of service to our users. All librarians must perform reference service, and are therefore selected and encouraged in their professional development to continue finding better ways of linking the physician, student, researcher or administrator with essential information effectively.
Within the structure of the School, the librarians participate as members of the Faculty Council. The Library director serves on the curriculum committee, meets regularly with other department heads, attends Tisch Hospital managers' meetings and participates actively in information technology efforts. The other librarians work to forge relationships that promote their active participation in informal meetings with other groups within the School. There is no standing library committee.
Evaluation and Self-Study Process
The library self-study committee consisted of clinical faculty, basic
science faculty and students. It met five times and toured another graduate
academic library in the neighborhood. The focus of each meeting was a
consideration of the LCME Medical Education Database questions and an
attempt to provide context for evaluating the Library.
The committee discussed all of the self-study questions, reviewed the 1993 report and LCME survey team comments. The committee then made a list of recommendations and agreed to edit the final report through e-mail and other non-meeting methods.
There are benchmark tools that help to evaluate the adequacy of the Library's collections, budget and services as well as the student and faculty perceptual surveys.
AAHSL Rankings
The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries has published comparative
statistics on all medical school libraries in the US and Canada for the
last 30 years. These statistics provide information on numbers of volumes,
numbers of book holdings, numbers of journal titles subscribed to and
comparative budget figures.
These statistics are now available in spreadsheet format and can also be sorted by comparative groupings. For its analysis, the committee selected a comparative grouping of 20 libraries that represent either similar private research-intensive medical schools or other medical schools in the New York City area.
Ehrman Medical Library Statistics
The Library keeps statistics that help evaluate its own procedures and
policies. These statistics are maintained over time and provide internal
benchmarking abilities. These benchmarks were used by the Library self-study
committee to assess the Library in a meaningful context and to help identify
and focus the ongoing review of strengths and weaknesses.
· Evaluate the print and non-print holdings of the Library as a
resource for medical students, graduate students and faculty members.
The Library collection includes books, journals, electronic resources (both licensed and owned) and audiovisual materials. Annual holdings for the Library since the last institutional self-study are given in the charts below.
The number of volumes held by a library has often been used as an indicator of collection quality. However, continual assessment of the actual volumes through re-evaluation of the collection is rare. The Library has, since 1988, aggressively weeded both its book and journal collections as a primary activity of collection development. Over that time 40,000 volumes have been disposed of. These included incomplete runs of older serials, multiple copies of primary texts, runs of texts, out-of-scope materials and little-used foreign language titles.
We now have a collection that is tightly configured to support the educational, patient care and research programs of the School. That does not mean we do not keep valuable and relevant older materials or historical materials. The total volume figures put us at a national rank of 86/136 libraries with the 1997/98 mean total collection at 224,872 volumes.
In looking at the Library's circulation statistics, we now find that every journal volume reflects some use, and monographs purchased since 1990 especially indicate circulation activity. The older materials are used, but not as heavily or as regularly.
Another indicator of collection adequacy is the division between book
titles added and journal titles added. In tough financial times, libraries
cut back on book purchases to protect their serials budgets. Books remain
important to users in an educational setting to provide state-of-the art
and background review for learning. There are more medical books being
published now than ever before.
The graph reflects greater swings in purchase between books and journals, with the number of current journals staying constant in the last four years.
The Library has the support of its faculty and alumni in the annual Friends of the Library campaign that brings in about $20,000 for purchase of materials each year. The Library has also recently contracted with the New York division of Nature Publishing Co. for receipt of all their review books in exchange for Library access. Most of these volumes are extremely expensive basic science or specialty medical publications and add significantly to the quality of the Library's collection. In addition, the Library has some endowed funds to support purchase of books in particular subject areas. The total amount of collection support from all these funds was $66,000 in FY 97/98.
As a result, when comparing rankings nationally, in FY 97/98 the Library ranks 41/135 in book purchase and 53/136 in number of current journals received.
When comparing budgets for library materials, and especially in looking at change over time, it is important to remember the fact that medical journal publishing inflation rates are outliers. For the past 30 years, the annual inflation rate for medical journals purchased by libraries has ranged from 8-15%. The average cost of an Index Medicus title in 1987 was $135.58, and in 1997, $464.40. The total amount of medical literature available has grown at even greater rates. Medical schools that have been able to keep the number of journal titles held by their libraries at constant rates have made a significant budget commitment in times of budget stress.
The Library has had some tough years, but the School's commitment in the last few years has been stronger, and the comparative rankings for overall collection budget show NYU at 50/135 of medical school libraries. The following chart shows a comparison of the amount spent on library collections by a grouping of 23 private, research-intensive medical schools, and area medical schools.
| 1997/98 Expenditures for Library Collections | ||
|
CA |
Stanford University University of Southern California University of California-San Francisco Yale University Georgetown University George Washington University Northwestern University Harvard University Johns Hopkins University University of Michigan Washington University -St. Louis Duke University Albert Einstein College of Medicine Columbia University Cornell University Mt. Sinai School of Medicine New York Medical College NYU-Ehrman Medical Library and Sterling Forest SUNY-Brooklyn (Downstate) Case Western Reserve University University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh Vanderbilt University |
$1,286,137 $1,268,503 $1,184,549 $1,170,900 $ 782,672 $ 575,747 $ 821,546 $1,240,046 $1,131,906 $1,555,969 $1,349,848 $1,578,587 $ 948,054 $1,531,819 $1,036,883 $ 939,873 $ 698,788 $ 980,326 $ 800,137 $ 923,072 $1,166,159 $1,544,525 $1,091,551 |
One question might be, what is adequate to the needs of NYU? Another indicator of quality is the number of interlibrary loans, or items borrowed for our users. One might assume that if the collection is adequate to support the needs of the community, the rate of borrowing should be in the low to middle range of comparative statistics.
In fact, the interlibrary loan picture for the Library in FY 97/98 shows
that we rank 8/131 in amount of money spent for access to materials from
other libraries, and 5/136 in the number of items borrowed from other
libraries. However, it should also be noted that we lend to other libraries
at high rates as well, ranking 29/136 in items lent for the same year.
One reason for the high borrowing is the lack of adequate collection support
for the clients served. Also, since all journals published before 1970
are in storage, retrieval of what we own adds about 2,000 items per year
to interlibrary loan statistics. The high rate of lending should be credited
to the excellent reputation of our Interlibrary Loan staff for fast turnaround
time, and to the affiliated service agreements we have with many libraries
in the city. We are a preferred supplier.
Audiovisual resources are held in the Computer Media Center. Some videotape and slide programs are acquired to especially support undergraduate and residency education and nursing. The collection is not large. Computer software for standard applications such as Microsoft Office products and some statistical and other graphics programs are on individual machines or on library servers. Altogether, the Library supports about 148 software programs. The Library also maintains a CD-ROM server to provide in-library networked access to various CD-ROM products that are purchased separately or that arrive with print materials.
Electronic Resources
Another consideration in assessing the quality of a medical library's collection is the number of electronic resources available to its user population.
This area of medical librarianship has grown so fast that comparative statistics are not of much value unless extremely current. However, we believe that the Library is a leader in the amount of material available for use electronically. The Library has been able to use its partnerships with both the Bobst Library at Washington Square and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Library to purchase expensive electronic resources jointly whenever possible and desirable.
The Library has been aggressive in seeking partners and negotiating favorable licenses. As a result, our users have on-campus access to over 1500 electronic journals, 75 electronic textbooks, 30 commercially developed electronic educational products and mega-Websites (MD Consult, STAT-REF!), which include a vast array of drug information, clinical guidelines, evidence-based medicine support and patient education. The Library also provides access to 55 databases, including, in addition to MEDLINE, PsychLit, CINAHL, Current Contents, Web of Science (ISI's Science Citation Indexes online), Community of Science, all of the NLM Web-based databases, and business and social sciences oriented Lexis-Nexis and ProQuest.
The commitment of the Library to continue to provide these and additional resources is primary. In the last two years, the School increased the materials budget by 15% and 8% respectively. Most of the benefit went to purchase electronic resources. It should be noted, however, that these materials are extremely expensive and if the Library were to purchase them individually, it would require an increase of 50% in collection support. The scheduled 7% across-the-board budget cut for FY 99/00 especially will make difficult the continuance of the Library's electronic collection.
Although benchmarking tools provide context, user perceptions are important
quality indicators. In surveys of faculty and students, the adequacy of
the Library's collection was assessed. The results indicate that the students
rated the book, journal and electronic resources above a neutral score,
with the Class of 2002 especially happy with the electronic resources.
| Class of 2002 | Class of 2001 | Class of 2000 | Class of 1999 | Average | |
| Books | 3.61 | 4.01 | 4 | 3.94 | 3.87 |
| Journals | 4.51 | 4.66 | 4.46 | 4.26 | 4.49 |
| Electronic | 5.19 | 4.76 | 4.74 | 4.56 | 4.84 |
Out of the 76 student self-study survey comments on the Library, nine referred to the collection with two finding it acceptable; the rest wanted more reserve materials, electronic resources and more current books.
The faculty rated the Library's collection as good. On a 5-point scale
(with 1=excellent) the ratings are:
| Book Collection | 2.3 |
| Journal Collection | 2.01 |
| Electronic Resources | 1.98 |
| Interlibrary Loan Efficiency | 1.97 |
Of the 11 written faculty comments, four commented on the lack of availability of older journals or journal subscriptions that they required.
Another indicator of the value of the Library's electronic resources is the increase in subscribers to Friends, the OVID MEDLINE system of databases. In September 1998, the Library no longer had to charge an access fee for remote use of the system. Although the system was "free" within the Library, outside access cost $200 a year. The number of paid subscribers remained a constant 200 for four years. Since last September, the number of subscribers is now over 1700.
Recommendations
1) Continue the 1998-99 levels of budget commitment to the Library
2) Continue the Friends of the Library Program
3) Assign a higher priority to fundraising for the Library for the collection and other endowment programs
· Evaluate the usability and functional convenience of the Library. Are hours appropriate? Is assistance available? Is study space adequate? Are resources, such as computers and audiovisual equipment, adequate?
Space and Computers
In 1984 and again in 1993 the medical educators who formed the ad hoc
survey team for the LCME noted that the space limitations of the Library
were those of the original building, built in 1952. The Library is no
bigger, but a major effort to expand the student study and educational
space has, in effect, expanded the study-seating capacity by more than
100% and greatly improved the quality of study and computer space for
students. The self-study committee believes that this additional space
has alleviated a good portion of the demand on the Library to provide
quiet study space separate from space for use of library resources.
Availability of computers has followed the same trend. From within the Library, the number of public computers has increased from 9 to 50, plus nine e-mail stations. This includes an 18-station computer classroom, dedicated to teaching computer skills, library and information skills, and particular software programs for various departments. The number of student-only computers has more than doubled from 20 student-only stations in 1993, to 57 stations in Coles and two e-mail stations in the Rubin Hall dormitory lobby. In addition, beginning in 1998, all incoming students must own a computer adequate to support the curricular software. Sackler graduate students have two dedicated computers and a printer in their lounge area.
Despite the excellent progress in increasing public computers and study space, the institutional self-study surveys show a great demand amongst students and faculty for more computers and better space. Most of the comments pertain to the poor quality and lack of study space, quiet space and computer access. Because of the separation of the Computer Media Center (CMC) in the basement and the reference area on the first floor, it appears to many users that there is even less computing available. Patrons like to use the public computers on the first floor because of convenience and because of the proximity to instant help from the staff at the Information and Circulation Desks. The printing facility on the first floor is very good and currently free to users. Unfortunately, there are constant queues to use these first-floor computers. The Library has submitted a proposal to enlarge this area and merge the CMC with the reference computers, which would appear to double the number of public computers and provide better staff supervision.
Because the Library is intensively busy, the space does not accommodate the demands of its users. The Library ranks 11th in the nation in gate count, but 117/136 in square feet. The density of occupation ratio (gate count to square foot) is 27.54:1 in comparison to the national average of 7:1. The School of Medicine is a major research institution, and the size of the academic staff and hospital staff each also rank 11th in comparison with those served by other medical school libraries. Additionally the Library, as part of the larger university, serves the biomedical information needs of the allied health, basic-science-research and other programs at NYU.
Library gate count statistics are increasing nationally for all types
of libraries. Why is this happening in an era when so much is becoming
available remotely and electronically? Libraries have found that their
patrons wish to use the electronic capabilities and print collection together
because it is efficient. They also like to use the Library's computers
because they are configured to be the most robust and seamless for complex
searching. Finally, the availability of knowledgeable librarians to provide
consultation on search issues is important. It is interesting to note
that although gate count is increasing, circulation is falling. The Library
is assuming that this is primarily a result of the wide range of electronic
journals available, and that we have not charged for the printout of a
full-text article; we do charge for photocopy of the print article. We
will be implementing a computer printing chargeback system this year.
One of the themes from the student-survey comments is the use of the Ehrman Library by inappropriate groups such as dental students, faculty and students from the NYU campus at Washington Square and the general public. This is an unfortunate continuing debate between the students and the Library administration that the Committee believes is a symptom of the cramped quarters. The Library is open only to those with an NYU ID. Library staff initiates frequent security checks on weekends and evenings when the facility seems to be overly crowded. To distinguish perception problems from reality problems, the Library has examined its statistics on patron registration and collection use and conducted entrance surveys to determine who is, in fact, using the Library. The following statistics and survey results contradict the student impression that non-medical student library users are overwhelming the facility. One explanation might be that the use of the Library by other students is more concentrated on evenings and weekends when medical students choose to use it for study.
Patron Registration and Circulation
The number of registered borrowers is 9,446 out of a possible pool of 41,062 borrowers. (NYU Hospitals, School of Medicine and all NYU campus students and faculty.)
Table 1A shows the distribution of registered library borrowers by patron
group. The pool represents all borrowers in the database who have registered
from 1995 to the present.
| 1.A Patron Group Distribution | Total 9,446 | % of Total |
| Medical School/Sackler Students, alumni Medical School Faculty, researchers, fellows Medical Center Staff House Staff Nurses Allied Health Bellevue/VA/affil. Washington Square Other (ILL, MIA) |
1,805 2,234 1,536 1,435 971 122 151 658 534 |
19.11 23.65 16.26 15.19 10.28 1.29 1.60 6.97 5.65 |
Table 1.B shows how registered patron goups use library resources that are circulated.
| 1.B Patron Group Circulation | Total | % of Total |
| Medical School/Sackler Students, alumni Medical School Faculty, researchers, fellows Medical Center Staff Housestaff Nurses Allied Health Bellevue/VA/aff Washington Square ILL |
128,896 62,023 34,037 44,898 7,617 2,513 1,625 5,870 17,208 |
42.30 20.36 11.17 14.74 2.80 .82 .53 1.93 5.65 |
Table 1.C shows how these groups use the library resources by delineating what type of material is circulated.
| 1C. % material checked outby type and patron group | Books | Journals | Reserve | AV | AV/ Reserve | ILL |
| Medical School/Sackler Students | 25.8 | 18.2 | 79 | 27.8 | 85.3 | 12.5 |
| Medical School Faculty, researchers, fellows, staff, nurses, residents | 59.1 | 78.6 | 17.8 | 66.1 | 14.5 | 78.4 |
| Dental | 1.3 | .3 | .3 | 2.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Washington Square | 5.6 | 2 | .8 | 1.2 | .1 | 2 |
| Bellevue/VA/staff | .9 | .2 | .3 | 1.1 | 0 | 1 |
| Other | .3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
Another method for determining who is using the Library is to take a
week-long door survey. The door survey assesses who enters the Library
during specified times (M-F 9-11, 2-5, 7-9; S-S 2-5) through visual ID
check. Because of the extra staffing needed to conduct the survey, it
is done about every two years. Table 2A shows results of the door surveys.
| 2A. Paton Group Door Count | 1994 | % | 1997 | % | 1999 | % |
| Medical Center Washington Square Bellevue/VA Dental Other: affiliates, family, conference, corporate |
1281 68 24 36 0 |
90.9 4.8 1.7 2.6 0 |
3528 220 21 148 26 |
89 5.58 .53 3.75 0.66 |
3208 145 55 131 23 |
90.06 4.07 1.54 3.68 0.65 |
In 1995, the Library staff did a different type of week-long user-group survey. This time, the Information Desk staff asked everyone with whom they had contact where they were from. The results are similar to the door count. The expectation was that it would reflect higher percentage of use by those unfamiliar with the Library and its resources. Results are:
| 2B Patron Group Info Desk | Total | % of Total |
| Medical Center Washington Square Bellevue/VA Dental Other: affiliates, family, conference, corporate |
405 57 35 32 24 |
73.2 10.3 6.3 5.8 4.3 |
Analysis
The Library gate count continues upward, increasing every year at about the same rate. In other words, the Library density of use is noticeably greater every year. The more electronic resources available, the higher the use, despite the fact that items are also heavily used remotely.
Although we do not have patron statistics for most periodical uses, it is clear that our library is used heavily by our own Medical Center clientele, and somewhat by others entitled to use it. The heaviest use of library materials outside the Medical Center is by other libraries for whom we fill interlibrary loan requests, and then by Washington Square students and faculty with a very small use by dental school faculty and students.
Within the Medical Center, the largest user of books and journals is faculty and staff to support research and patient care. Student use seems restricted to reserve materials with more books than journals circulated. However, students also have subsidized photocopy and probably do not check out older journals as much as our faculty. These figures do not include other services such as use of our databases and computers. Anecdotally, we feel the use of these services is very weighted toward the faculty.
Door count analysis supports the circulation statistics that conclude that the primary patron groups who use our Library are from the Medical Center. All statistics consistently show that, over time and by various methods, use by other groups is not a significant percentage. The door counts do show that the use by other than Medical Center personnel can go to 20 % on weekends and 8% during the evenings. Since there is less crowding during these times, it should not be considered a major problem, but it is perceived as one by our medical students, probably, once again, because the space is small and the user density high. Dental students use the Library to study as well as for its resources; Washington Square use is totally for information resources. However, overall, the use of the Library by dental students ranges from 3-4%.
One solution to the perception of "illegal" users would be to implement an automatic door card access system. Unfortunately, although the Library would like to do this as well, there is no room whatsoever to install such a device due to architectural problems and the lack of a queuing space.
Because the demand for Library service is so high, the Library has devoted as much as possible of its existing space to service. The stack area has not been expanded. All books published after 1914 are kept there, but only journals published from 1971 forward are available in the stacks. The office and support areas are not adequate and Library staff and users share the same areas, making quiet and efficient library use difficult.
The high number of faculty and student comments on the Library show requests for more study space and requests for more computer availability, as well as collection access. The proposal for renovation of the existing service areas in the main reading room and study/index room seeks to improve service by placing all library computers in one service area and concentrating all staff support for reference and computer use in one place, thereby eliminating multiple computer service areas with differing hours and staff. This proposal is endorsed by this committee in recognition of the fact that when library resources are so limited, the needs of the "information seeker" must take precedence over the needs of those seeking a quiet study area.
Hours and Access
Despite these difficulties, the staff tries to provide the best possible
library collection and service in a number of creative ways. The Library
is open Monday through Friday from 8:30pm to 2:00am; on Saturdays from
10:00am to 8:00pm; Sunday noon to 2:00am. The Library is staffed by a
security guard from 11:00pm to 2:00am. The mezzanine area, which contains
16 seats, three full purpose computers and five e-mail stations is available
24 hours a day, as are the student study areas in Coles and elsewhere.
There is a room in the Library that has been used as a 24-hour quiet study
area, but there is a proposal to enlarge the current main reading room
by joining this room to the reference and computer area. This would allow
for all library public computers to be in one area and increase the Library's
ability to give appropriate reference and support service.
With the advent of electronic resources, the Library has tried to create a "virtual library" that would provide as many resources on-line as possible, obviating the need for individuals to come into the library facility. Indeed, the Library supports heavy use of its remote resources, but not all are accessible from off-campus locations due to networking restrictions. Most of the student comments on library 24-hour access concern a lack of 24-hour printing, rather than library information or study services.
Services
Interlibrary Loan
The Library believes that limitations of facility or collection budget
should not deprive any user of access to legitimate information needs.
All computers in the Library are fully networked and provide open access
to the Internet as well as library resources. If the Library does not
own or has in storage any item a patron needs, an interlibrary loan request
will be used to get the material. The interlibrary loan staff of 4.5 FTEs
is trained to use the NLM's National Network system to achieve the best
turnaround time possible. The Library will get rush requests on an immediate
basis, and will also provide pull and copy services. There is no charge
to patrons for interlibrary loans, since these are in lieu of collection
purchases or items held in storage. A Web-based request system has expedited
the service and allowed our users to request materials without having
to enter the Library. Interlibrary loan is heavily used (we rank fifth
nationally in items borrowed) and much appreciated by our patrons.
Faculty appreciate the interlibrary loan service and have ranked it 1.97 on a 5 point scale with 1 being excellent.
Reference
The Library ranks 5/133 in reference questions answered in FY 97/98. Reference
and help lines are available through voice mail and from the Websites.
The Info Desk is situated next to the public computers on the first floor
of the Library; thus Library staff are easily available to answer technical
questions as well as resource questions. The Library is a leader in integrating
its electronic and print resources for easy use. The integrated library
system provides a Web-based catalog and will be completely Web-based for
circulation and administrative support in another year. All print and
electronic resources are cataloged with links pointing to electronically
available items, whether they are located on-site or from a commercial
server anywhere in the world.
Faculty and students rate the helpfulness of the staff as 4.7 on their 7-point scale (7=excellent), and faculty rate the staff as 1.81 on their 5-point scale (1=excellent), the highest rated service in the survey.
Technology
The Library Website presents an integrated access to all the electronic
materials and services available. It attempts to be a true "virtual
library." In addition to the catalog, electronic books, databases
and journals, it presents some unique databases that support the research
programs of the School. The Library's Faculty Resource catalog is a database
of research interests, teaching commitments and other information for
all full- and part-time faculty. It links to the Web-based faculty information
system and is the vehicle for uploading faculty data to the national database
of scientists, the Community of Science. The Library also publishes a
database of faculty publication citations from its Website. These services
are appreciated by the library users, as exemplified by the faculty survey
comment: "The electronic resources shine far above other medical
schools and the Library's Web page is a model of excellence."
The Computer Media Center is a computer-intensive room where office software
is available and educational software is supported, including distribution
of CD-ROMs pressed by the Endeavor/Hippocrates group. Fee-based graphic
services such as slide preparation, poster presentation software, scanning
services and other graphics media are available here.
Library staff supports the delivery of computer services within the curriculum
by organizing and maintaining the computers in the Coles teaching area
and by supporting computer projection requests. All public computers in
the Library and student computers in Coles are kept consistent in screen
display, software mounted and security requirements. The Library works
with Academic Computing (the former Hippocrates Project) to ensure appropriate
delivery of the required programs developed and housed on their file servers.
In addition, the Library purchases and mounts commercially available student
support software (Immex, Goldstandard, ERAS, Scientific American, Harrison's,
MD Consult, etc.), and software in support of the curriculum developed
at other universities.
Recommendations
4) Appoint a Task Force to develop a library facility strategic plan which
would include analysis of increased use of clinical affiliate space, particularly
in the new Tisch building plan and at Bellevue.
5) Fund the Library renovation request to unify separate computer and
service areas into one on the ground floor of the Library to improve computer
availability, technical support for users and library service space.
6) Develop a capital plan to support Library public and staff technology
needs.
· Assess the Library staff contribution to the education of medical
students and the professional development of faculty members in the following
areas:
a) Teaching specific skills, such as instruction in computer usage and
bibliographic search
b) Retrieving and managing information
c) Interaction with the curriculum committee to coordinate various library
resources with planned curricular design.
Library Staff
The library staff comprises 46.5 FTEs; 13.5 librarians; four managers
and administrators, 20 support staff and eight FTE student assistants.
In total staff, we rank 32/134. The Library supports over 130 desktop
computers, four file servers and a complex of electronic services. The
increasing technology intensity of libraries requires a highly skilled
staff in contrast to that of even ten years ago. All new hires are required
to have good technology skills.
Library Instruction Programs
Support of the undergraduate medical curriculum begins with a 90-minute
orientation session for the first year students who receive a lecture/demonstration
of library resources and hands-on experience to validate their e-mail
and search passwords.
The enclosed table represents points in the undergraduate curriculum
where the Library participates in some way.
| Year 1 | · Anatomy. Students are guided in literature
searching via a Web-based instruction and voluntary tutorials · Host/Defense. Students are guided in literature searching via a Web-based instruction and two scheduled one-hour tutorials on MEDLINE searching and PowerPoint presentation |
| Year 2 | Epidemiology. Students learn principles of searching the published biomedical literature for "best evidence" in a 90-minute computer lab. |
| Year 3 & 4 | Ambulatory Care Medicine Clerkship. Basic principles of evidence-based medicine as they relate to clinical decision making and problem solving in one 90-minute computer lab. |
| Other | Voluntary review of MEDLINE basics; all other library courses and sessions are open to students. |
In addition to the undergraduate curriculum, the Library conducts three units of sessions for Sackler graduate students, as well as a series of special informal Library Seminars. Residency support is given in the Department of Medicine through participation in Morning Report and several classes offered in literature-searching for evidence-based medicine practice at Bellevue, Gouverneur Diagnostic and Treatment Center and NYU Downtown Hospital. In addition there are various departmental and grand rounds presentations. The Library instruction program includes teaching the effective use of computers and software, as well as library and information skills {2}. All Library courses are open to students at no charge. There is a fee-based program for instruction in both Windows and Macintosh programs for Microsoft Office products and relational database design. There are also opportunities for private tutoring or classes to be constructed around the particular needs of the department. These courses take place in the Library's Carlisle Computer Classroom (CCC). In the coming year, the Library will reorganize its instructional program to include more Web-based training for basic applications, and create a larger range of courses in support of upgrading faculty and administrative computer skills.
{2} See http://library.med.nyu.edu/library/libinfo/libinfo.html
In addition, the CCC classroom is used for graduate and undergraduate curriculum and for teaching e-mail skills, and can be reserved for departmental instruction in various proprietary and special software programs.
Library information management programs are taught in the CCC as well. Although the Library supports MEDLINE searching assignments in the "Gross Anatomy" course and the "Host Defense" block, there is no assigned curriculum time for teaching MEDLINE until the third year in the Ambulatory Care Medicine clerkship, where the basic principles of evidence-based medicine searching are taught in small-group sessions.
The Library staff offers individual tutorials for MEDLINE or other information management tools on demand, and very often the reference encounters at the Information Desk result in considerable impromptu instruction relating to the specific search the patron is trying to complete.
Other instructional offerings taught by the Library include a whole range of two-hour Internet workshops from beginning searching to advanced HTML and creating Web pages. These are offered Friday mornings to anyone who comes, at no cost to participants.
The Library also offers a series of demonstrations, departmental presentations, workshops and "lunch and learns" continuously throughout the year. These usually try to present either a description of library resources and services or take an in-depth look at special features of various information resources like EndNote, or Web of Science for the management of scientific information.
Although the Library staff is active in teaching, it is informal, voluntary and in regard to the curriculum not evaluated. Therefore, we are concerned that there may be a wide disparity in information retrieval skills among the students, and that those who need more in-depth instruction are not identified. Of the 2,362 individuals who attended library instructional programs in FY 97/98 few were medical students.
Interaction with Curriculum Committees
The Library director is a full member of the School's curriculum committee
and is invited to participate in planning workshops and retreats.
The Library is re-evaluating its educational programs for medical students in particular, in hopes that a more reliable system of instruction in information skills could be developed. In this effort we are working with Academic Computing and the Office of Medical Education to coordinate and create an improved system.
Although there is formal participation in some committees, it seems the real work to integrate information skills must be done on a course director level. Teaching librarians do not yet have easy access to discussions at the course design level. The Library is also considering reorganizing to develop individual librarian liaison to either departments or courses to improve communications.
Library Support for Instruction at Other Clinical Sites
The Library provides some electronic resources in the form of databases
and electronic journals where possible to Bellevue and the Department
of Veterans Affairs. Network security problems in these institutions make
this goal ever more challenging. There is no formal relationship among
the librarians and particularly in Bellevue, library resources for students
are not coordinated with the School. The Library provides free interlibrary
loan to these institutions as it does to Lenox Hill and North Shore University
Hospitals, but there is no effort to ensure equality of information resources
to students on these campuses.
The institutional self-study committee on computers in the clinical years has identified limited access to NYU resources in Bellevue and the VA as a problem that must be resolved for successful teaching.
Community Resource and CME
The Library has developed a course that has been given CME credit in cooperation
with the School of Post-Graduate Medical Education called "Computer
Doctors." The Library also cooperates with the special education
programs sponsored by the School's minority affairs program, Sackler Institute
and other community-based programs such as the Salk students. Instruction
in use of library resources is provided to all of these groups.
The Library, as part of a private university, is not open to the community at large. Anyone who needs medical library resources can use the library of the New York Academy of Medicine and members of the community seeking assistance are directed there.
In response to increasing demand from patients and their families for access to our library and its resources, we are cooperating in the creation of a Patient and Family Learning Resource Center that is located in the hospital. This small library is set up to provide patient and consumer health information within the extensive biomedical resources system available to NYU.
Recommendations
1) Develop better ways to integrate the teaching and learning of information
management and computer skill in the curriculum by:
a) Providing library liaison to courses or departments
b) Formal membership on module committees, clerkship committees
c) Create information skills curriculum committee with Library staff academic
computing staff and course directors
2) Involve Library in planning for off-site instruction in the clerkship years.
Other General Recommendations
3) Appoint a Library Committee representing faculty, student, clinical, hospital and administration to advise on policy, communicate about issues of mutual concern and to advocate for the Library.
This was recommended by the previous LCME survey team report, and is even more necessary with the growing complexity of the institution, and the need to prioritize every aspect of the Library's resources due to space and budget limitation.
4) Continue active Library participation in Information Technology planning and program efforts.