|
 |
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
September/October 2006: Issue 132
A View of the UAMS Library Liaison Program
from the Library of the Jones Eye Institute
The JEI librarian, Karen Coker, actually performs dual roles. Not only is she the acting librarian but she also serves as a research associate for the JEI faculty. The UAMS Liaison services provided to the departmental library at the Jones Eye Institute (JEI) provide various examples of continuing use. The departmental library Karen oversees has an academic mission for faculty, health care professionals, and residents rather than a consumer mission for the public. The JEI librarian also has direct involvement in faculty research by helping to plan research projects, analyze data, and help write scientific and technical articles, for example. Under the guidance of Jan Hart and liaison Abby Holt, the training offered to JEI’s librarian was tailored to a research library being formally organized for the first time.
The significance of the liaison program for the JEI Library is twofold. First, helping establish a research-oriented departmental library means honing in on the research tools of a library, most of which are based on information technologies. In fact, according to Ben Ridout, UAMS reference librarian, the most typical graduate degrees for librarians, the Master of Library Sciences (MLS) and the Master of Library and Information Sciences (MLIS), include notable training in information technologies or sciences. Thus, while the search database’s on-line help does provide basic direction to a patron, a departmental librarian and research associate who works closely with clinical faculty needs a deeper understanding of the search database structures, for example. Not surprisingly, a mediated literature search by medical reference librarian Susan Steelman or Brynn Mays is still warranted in some cases. In the meantime, Rena Sheffer has been instrumental in training JEI’s new librarian in use of UAMS’s electronic journals, an increasingly important part of any medical center’s library holdings.
Second, starting a new library requires planning and implementing the basic organization of the library as well as beginning to document its history. Also, in the case of JEI’s library, the newly formalized library must lay plans for its displays and documentation of antique ophthalmic instruments. Nancy Sessoms of the main library, already equipped with the necessary software and knowledge, cataloged JEI books and created labels.
Documenting the library’s history and managing its antiques relied on expertise that blended the most traditional and the newest of library sciences. Through Amanda Saar and the Historical Research Center, sources on the history of ophthalmology have been researched in both traditional and electronic sources. Also, Ms. Saar provides education in the proper handling of antique papers and instruments.
Could this have been accomplished simply through regular contact with the library? Possibly, but the coordinated efforts through the liaison program made the process far more efficient for all involved through better allocation of time and lack of redundant communication. Furthermore, JEI’s liaison has become a representative of JEI: as a single-point contact with knowledge of the department’s specific needs, Abby Holt can arrange the links between a department and the UAMS librarian specializing in relevant library services.
More about the liaison program can be found at www.library.uams.edu/AboutLib/Liaison.aspx, while the different library services are described through links on the left-hand side of the library’s home page at www.library.uams.edu.
An overview of the progress at the JEI Library and examples of key responsibilities and projects of the Education Associate / Librarian
Library Development and Oversight
- Organization of Books and Journals.
- JEI Library Services. Literature searches, location and provision of specific books and articles; assistance with library computers in library or electronic technology in project room.
- Library Communication and Representation. Communication with visual science librarians’ association and list-serve. Preliminary planning of JEI Library web site.
Clinical Research
- Research Ethics and Regulations. Completed online ethics/regulations training and registration through IRB’s online system called ARIA. Beginning to assist clinical research projects with ethical and regulatory considerations.
- Education and Research Ethics/Regulations: Preparation of ethics and regulatory materials for JEI residents.
- Literature Reviews for Clinical Research Articles. Conducted in-depth or specialized literature reviews for several articles. Susan Steelman assisted or followed-up with two of these.
- Completion and Submission of Clinical Research Articles. In varying degrees, contributed to several clinical research papers through some or all of the following: editing, writing of specific sections, analyzing data.
Basic Research
- Edited two basic research articles.
Other assistance to JEI
- Additional editing of documents and analysis of data for in-house purposes.