Library Notes

Meetings, Presentations, and Publications

Mark Berendsen, Education Librarian, presented his poster Partnering for Patient Empowerment through Community Awareness at the Midwest Chapter Medical Library Association conference held on September 17th-20th, 2005 in Fargo, North Dakota. Partnering for Patient Empowerment through Community Awareness, or PPECA, is a collaboration among patient safety advocates, health sciences librarians, health care institutions, and public libraries to help inform consumers and librarians about patient safety. The project focuses on the role of consumers as partners in their own care and that of their loved ones. For more information about PPECA and their calendar of events, visit their Web site at: http://www.galter.northwestern.edu/ppeca/index.htm.

Ramune Kubilius, Special Projects/Collection Development Librarian, attended the 25th Charleston Conference: Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition, held November 2nd – 5th in Charleston SC. She served as one of the conference program directors and worked with other committee members on the compilation of a ‘Memory Book’ that highlighted the evolution of the lively free-standing publishing and library issues conference that has exponentially grown in popularity among publishers and librarians alike. Ramune also organized and moderated the 5th annual Lively Lunch on health sciences collection development issues.

Congratulations go out to Linda Walton, Associate Director, as she has been elected to a three-year term to the Medical Library Association Board of Directors beginning in 2006/2007.

Continuing to share her skills and long-time experience as a librarian, Linda will again be teaching a course in medical librarianship at Dominican University’s School of Library and Information Science in River Forest, Illinois. Guest lecturers this year will include Galter Library colleagues, Ramune Kubilius and Michelle Frisque. Her class this spring will mark Linda’s third teaching appointment at the American Library Association-accredited school.

In collaboration with Linda, James Shedlock, Director, has co-authored an article which will appear in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association titled "Developing a virtual community for health sciences library book selection: Doody’s Core Titles." Their article looks at the importance and benefits of a group effort-based book review and ranking process as an important aid in choosing health sciences library materials.

Also enjoying a publication of his work is Tony Olson, Acquisitions/Catalog Librarian. In partnership with colleagues David Miller of the Levin Library of Curry College, Milton, MA, and Sara Shatford Layne of the University of California – Los Angeles, Tony’s work appeared in the July 2005 issue of Library Resources & Technical Services. Their article, "Promoting research and best practices in subject reference structures," examines and summarizes a report based on an in-depth analysis of reference structure data collected by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Cataloging and Classification Section Subject Analysis Committee, a division of the American Library Association.

Those who have frequented our Special Collections department and marveled at antique instruments, classic medical books and other various items of interest will notice that Ron Sims, our previous catalog librarian, is now spending all of his time in Special Collections as our Special Collections Librarian. Ron’s expertise and extensive knowledge of Northwestern’s medical school and previous dental school is a great asset to faculty, staff, students, and other researchers seeking archival materials and information. Ron can be reached at (312) 503-1913 or at rnsms@northwestern.edu.

Welcome New Staff!

Some new faces have appeared at the Galter Library. Eddie Wiggins, evening Circulation Assistant, joined the staff in August 2005. Eddie is currently attending DePaul University and is finishing his undergraduate degree with a major in psychology.

Jodie Stauffer joined the library in October 2005 as our new Education Assistant in the Education and Outreach department. Jodie’s experience in research and bibliographic searching will be a great asset to the Galter staff.

New to the Galter Library as of January 2006, but not to Northwestern, is Pamela Shaw, our new Biosciences Librarian. Pam has worked at Northwestern for the past 12 years as a laboratory technologist in the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. She has a BA in Neuroscience and a MS in Library and Information Sciences. Pam’s experience in the laboratory setting will greatly enhance her career as a librarian specializing in biomedical information retrieval and education. Pam will be profiled in the next issue of Library Notes.