BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS

Improved Library Services Through User Education BY ROBERT K. POYER, ReJerence Circulation Librarian Medical University of South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina

POTENTIAL users of the library of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) include health practitioners, research assistants, laboratory assistants, and medical secretaries. Although the use of our library and its services has steadily been increasing, it still is not as high as it could be. A key to increased use lies with the health practitioner, in particular the physician and the medical faculty member. When a faculty member is faced with an information problem, he has a number of options open to him. He can consult a colleague, go to the library himself, ask a librarian to find the answer, send a member of his staff to the library, or let the need go unfilled. Usually the physician or faculty member will consult a colleague or go to the library himself. What happens if his colleague does not have the answer and he does not have the time to go to the library? Usually he sends a member of his staff to the library, who communicates with the librarian. Often there is a breakdown in communication at this point because the staff member did not understand what the faculty member wanted. The solution lies with the physician or faculty member, who must either educate his staff or consult the librarian himself. The approach used by the Medical University of South Carolina Library was to send a memorandum to each faculty member announcing the institution of a short course on Basic Library Skills for medical secretaries, laboratory assistants, and research assistants. In this way the librarian would be responsible for teaching allied health personnel the proper way to use the library (see Appendix 1 for the course outline). On the surface, the goal of the course is to educate allied health personnel in the proper use of the library. By teaching them to do library tasks efficiently, it is hoped that the faculty will utilize their new talents, which would in turn beget greater library utilization. The course, however, has other goals which are just as important. By educating this user group, the librarian has aided the patron in communicating with and understanding the library; this newfound enlightenment

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is another way of improving library service and the image of the library as well. An underlying goal of the course is to educate faculty members in the services and various tools the library has to offer. This education lies with enrollees of the course. By becoming proficient with library tasks and aware of library services and policies, these allied health personnel may in turn help to educate the faculty members with whom they work in better use of library services. The content of the course and its rationale are based on the author's experience in teaching basic library skills to dental, pharmacy, nursing, and allied health students at MUSC. Mueller* aided with a basic outline of topics to be covered. Also, her experience in teaching a course to allied health personnel correlated with mine. Borda and Murray's [I] and Maina's [2] articles were read after the course had been put together. The problems described by Borda had already been resolved, while Maina's course was too short for our purposes. As stated above, publicity was handled by a memorandum and course outline sent to each faculty member. This insured greater publicity than any of the ways suggested in the articles cited above. By approaching the faculty directly, we were presenting them with a situation that would improve their staff in a needed area with little effort on their part. While increasing the usefulness of their staff, faculty would be able to devote valuable time to other endeavors. The need for the course was demonstrated when over seventy enrolled in the course within one week. The course involves four two-hour sessions. These sessions are from 9:00 A.M. to 1 1:00 A.M. on either Tuesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday, two weeks in a row. It was felt that the course should be given quickly rather than dragged out over a long period, because student interest tends to fall as a class goes on. The twohour period was chosen because it gives the participants a chance to discuss the lecture, to get actual experience in using reference materials via short exercises, and to receive individualized help and instruction. Discussion, actual experience, and individualized help are the keys to promoting a good image of the library. Also, these are the best ways of reinforcing what has been said in the lecture. A day was skipped between classes so *Mary Mueller, Education Coordinator, University of Minnesota Bio-Medical Library, Minneapolis, had taught a similar course. Bull. Med. Libr. A ssoc. 65(2) April 1977

BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS

that the students could do the work that had not been done the day before; thus the likelihood of absenteeism would be reduced. The maximum number of students in any one class was ten. If there had been more than ten, it would be difficult to hold discussions and give each the attention needed. Also, the participants were chosen for each class according to their status (laboratory assistants together, secretaries together, and so on) and also according to their knowledge of the library, as determined by a pretest, which helped immensely in deciding how to teach each group. The content of the course could be debated. Naturally, any course should be geared to its participants and the goals which the instructor aims for. One thing about a course given on basic library skills should be stressed: the channels of communication are being given the chance to be opened and to stay open. The discussion and the exercise sections at the end of each day's activity gives you the chance to communicate with the students without their having to worry about disturbing you. This is good public relations and will make it easier for them to come back to the library, confident in the knowledge that if they cannot find what they are looking for, they have someone they can go to. A course like this strives to develop basic library skills upon which allied health personnel can build, while improving library relations and library services to the health-care field and the academic community. REFERENCES 1. BORDA, EVA, AND MURRAY, MARY E. Introduction to library services for allied health personnel. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 62: 363-366, Oct. 1974. 2. MAINA, WILLIAM. A class in library use for allied health personnel. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63: 226-228, Apr. 1975. APPENDIX I

BASIC LIBRARY SKILLS

Library orientation (Class 1) A. Tour of the library B Medical library organization C. Medical library terminology D. Library services E Library policies F. Discussion G. Exercises 2. Reference materials (Class 2-3) A. Card catalog B. Reference books 1.

Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 65(2) April 1977

C. Discussion D. Exercises E. Indexes and abstracts (Class 3) F. Verification of book and journal references G. Discussion H. Exercises 3. Finding factual information (Class 4) A. Reference question B. Ready reference C. Manual literature search D. Computerized literature search E. Discussion F. Compilation of a bibliography

Journal Evaluation Study at the University of Connecticut Health Center* BY JOAN ASH, Associate Directorof Libraries

JAMES E. MORGAN, Director of Libraries

University of Oregon Health Sciences Center Portland, Oregon

THE

Lyman Maynard Stowe Library at the University of Connecticut Health Center was founded in 1964 and moved to its present location in Farmington, Connecticut in 1974. The library serves the schools of medicine and dentistry directly and is the primary resource for the schools of nursing, pharmacy, and allied health, located forty miles away at the main campus in Storrs. In addition, the library serves, along with the Yale Medical Library, as a resource library for the state of Connecticut; it is therefore committed to serving health professionals throughout the state, mainly through their hospital libraries. The current journals and backfiles originally selected during the library's infancy were of a high quality and served user needs more than adequately. Circulation statistics indicated that basic science materials received more use than clinical materials. More recently, especially after the Dempsey Hospital opened on campus in January 1975, circulation statistics indicate a greater emphasis on the use of clinical materials. Because of a perceived changing emphasis on collection use, budget constraints, and space problems, a journal evaluation project was begun in January 1976. Although the library has continuously monitored the quality and cost of journals, and lists of possible cancellations were

*Joan Ash was Assistant Director for Technical Services and James E. Morgan was Director of Libraries at the University of Connecticut Health Center when this study was conducted. 297

Improved library services through user education.

BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS Improved Library Services Through User Education BY ROBERT K. POYER, ReJerence Circulation Librarian Medical University of South...
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