Volume 17, Issue 1 Summer 2002

Awards and Honors Info 3

New Members 4

Michael Gorman 6

2002 Annual Meeting Minutes

7

Roundtable Reports 11

Skin Cancer Web Sites 12

Upcoming Fall 2002 Conferences

13

AMA Survey Results 14

Contents:

PSS NEWSLETTERPSS NEWSLETTER F OR M EMBERS OF THE MLA P UBLIC SERVICES S ECTION

Wrapping Up the Big D and lots of other

news and info! The theme for MLA’s meeting this year was the “Big D” for Dallas. However, if you attended the Public Services Section’s business meeting, you may have thought it was the “Big E” for electronic. As Barbara Slater so expertly guided us through the business meeting’s agenda, it became readily apparent that the PSS’s publications could soon be in electronic format. Early in the meeting Secre-tary/Treasurer, Charles Greenberg, mentioned that, “…significant expense items such as printing and distributing of the PSS directory could be eliminated with electronic distribution.” Later in the meeting it was voted to investigate both e-mail distribution of the PSS Membership Directory and electronic publication of the PSS Newsletter. Please see related articles in this newsletter for additional information. Not only was the PSS meeting a success, the entire MLA 2002 program offered many opportunities for education and networking. The PSS’s sponsored sessions were well attended. Our invited speaker, Michael Gorman, received a standing ovation. A big thank you to Barbara Slater for introducing him and leading the question and answer session following his talk. A big thank you, also, to Linda Butson who truly went beyond the call of duty. Linda had volunteered to moder-ate our presented paper session and became ill the morning of the session. How-ever, even though ill, she found her own replacement. Fred Heidenreich was will-ing to substitute for Linda and the session proceeded as planned. The session’s presenters were excellent and their participation appreciated. Thank you to eve-ryone who participated in our section’s contribution to a very successful MLA meeting. As we now look forward to the coming year, I encourage all of you to join the Pub-lic Services Section E-Mail list. You can join the list by sending a blank message to pssmla-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. We will soon be adding all non-subscribed PSS member’s names to the e-mail list. Your subscribing to the list now, will greatly facilitate this effort. I am looking forward to working with you this coming year.

Sondra Pfeiffer PSS Chair 2002-2003

A Note From the Chair

PAGE 2 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

The PSS Newsletter is published three times a year by the Public Services Section of the Medical Library Association, c/o University at Buffalo Health Sciences Library, 3435 Main Street, Abbott Hall, Buffalo, NY 14214

Stewart Brower and Michelle La Voie, Co-Editors

Forward copy to Stewart Brower at sbrower@buffalo.edu or call 716-829-3900 x 113 if you have questions.

Public Services Section Listserv

Subscription Information

To subscribe send a blank message to

pssmla-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

or go to

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pssmla

and click on “Subscribe”

PSS Web Site: http://www.library.uams.edu/PSSMLA/Pssmla.htm

Chair: Sondra Pfeiffer 205-934-2230 sondra@uab.edu (5/02-5/03) Chair-elect: Charles Greenberg 203-737-2960 charles.greenberg@yale.edu (5/02-5/03) Past Chair: Barbara Slater 858-534-1196 bslater@ucsd.edu (5/02-5/03) Section Council Representative: Barbara W. Francis 352-392-9777 bar-bara@library.health.ufl.edu (5/00-5/03) Secretary/Treasurer: Mary Adams 508-999-8681 madams@umassd.edu (5/02-5/04)

Newsletter Editors: Stewart Brower 716-829-3900 x 113 sbrower@buffalo.edu (5/01-5/03) Michelle La Voie 716-829-3900 x 134 lavoie@acsu.buffalo.edu (5/01-5/03) Web Site Editor: Martha Verchot 205-934-2231 mverchot@uab.edu (5/02-5/04) Program Chair: See Chair Elect Membership Committee Chair: Susan Dorsey 504-584-2404 sdorsey@tulane.edu (5/98-5/03) Governmental Relations Committee Liaison: Nancy Tannery 412-648-9688 nht2120@pitt.edu (5/01-5/03)

Bylaws Committee Chair: To be filled Nominating Committee Chair: See Past Chair Standards Committee Chair: Pamela Bradigan 614-292-4866 bradigan.1@osu.edu (5/02-5/04) Access Services SIG Chairs: Susan Dorsey 504-584-2404 sdorsey@tulane.edu (5/01-5/03) Jennifer Lloyd 504-568-6100 jlloyd@lsumc.edu (5/01-5/03) Fee-Based Services SIG Chair: Ruey Rodman 614-292-4893 Rodman.1@osu.edu (5/02-5/03)

General Reference SIG Chair: To be filled Information Management Education SIG Chair: Stewart Brower 716-829-3900 x 113 sbrower@buffalo.edu (5/02-5/04) Online Services SIG Chair: Michelle La Voie 716-829-3900 x 134 lavoie@acsu.buffalo.edu (5/02-5/04)

Public Services Section Officers

PAGE 3 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1 PAGE 3 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

Don’t Keep Mum About Achievements and Accomplishments!

This is an early invitation to look around for note-worthy accomplishments among all MLA chapter members. The Medical Library Association’s Awards Committee and Juries will deliberate on nominations for awards and honors submitted by November 1, 2002. The awards will be awarded at the 2003 Medical Library Association meeting. The MLA Web Site provides more information on each of the various professional awards: the re-quirements, the sponsor(s) of the award, applica-tion forms, and a list of past award winners. Visit: http://www.mlanet.org/awards/honors/ index.html The awards honor a range of professional accom-plishments for activities performed during various points in awardees’ professional careers—collection development, teaching, writing, etc. Each award has its own sponsorship and was founded at a dif-ferent moment in MLA’s history. The Louise Darling Medal, for example, is pre-sented annually to recognize distinguished achieve-ment in collection development in the health sci-ences. The award was established in 1987 and first awarded in 1988, with a contribution by Ballen Booksellers International, Inc. It continues to be supported by Blackwell North America, Inc. Past

award winners have included Jonathan Eldridge, Alfred N. Brandon, David Morse, and the National Library of Medicine Preservation Program for Bio-medical Literature. The award honors achieve-ment, leadership, cooperative efforts, and service. The accomplishments may be in publication, course work, a specific accomplishment, or description of a methodology in the area of collection development. MLA members (who are also members of various sections) have volunteered to serve on the Awards Committee and juries. We invite our colleagues to help us identify nominees who are the shining stars among us. The guidelines of some awards permit not only nominations, but also self-nominations. As the MLA information states, all awards are considered annually, but they are given only when nominees and candidates clearly meet or exceed requirements.

We invite MLA section members to be nominators and nominees for awards this coming year!

Ramune Kubilius, MALS, AHIP Collection Development / Special Projects Librarian

Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University

Jury Chair, Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development

in the Health Sciences

Recognize Health Science Information Innovation — the Frank Bradway Rogers Award

We know you are out there on the cutting edge of new services and initiatives using technology in the most creative ways. Take a moment to think about what your colleagues are contributing and nominate their projects or efforts. The Medical Library Association would like to know about these new applications, so we can give your colleagues the recognition they deserve. We are seeking nominations for the ISI/Frank Brad-way Rogers Information Advancement Award. This award is presented annually by the Medical Library Association and sponsored by the Institute for Scien-tific Information. The award recognizes an outstanding MLA member OR members’ contributions for/to:

1) the application of technology to the delivery of health science information,

2) the science of information, or 3) the facilitation of the delivery of health sci-ence information.

For more information on the award go to: http://mlanet.org/awards/honors/rogers.html For a copy of the nomination form and instructions click here: http://www.mlanet.org/pdf/awards/rogers_072000.pdf Thank you for your nomination!

Ruey Rodman Ohio State University

John A. Prior Health Sciences Library

PAGE 4 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

New Members of the Public Services Section

There are 254 members in the Public Services Section. The Section extends a welcome to all new and renewing members. It’s important that all members are subscribed to the PSS listserv to keep current on plans, program-ming, and news. To subscribe, see page 2 of this newsletter. Please add the following members to your directories: Cynthia Jill Janus Mathematica Policy Research Library DC 600 Maryland Ave SW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20024-2512 blancaster6@juno.com TEL: 202/264-3456 FAX: 202/554-7552 Rhona S Kelley, AHIP Southern IL Univ School of Med Medical Library PO Box 19625 801 N Rutledge St Springfield, IL 62794-9625 rkelley@siumed.edu TEL: 217/545-2112 FAX: 217/545-0988 Margaret A Marshall Wake AHEC 3024 New Bern Ave Raleigh, NC 27610 mmarshall@wakemed.org TEL: 919/350-8391 FAX: 919/350-8836 Mary Moore National Library of Medicine Assoc. Fellowship Program Room B1E-03D 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20894 mmoore@mail.nlm.nih.gov TEL: 301/435-4083 FAX: 301/481-1467 Pamela C. Rees, AHIP State Library of Iowa E. 12th and Grand W. Des Moines, IA 50319

pam.rees@lib.state.is.us TEL: 515/281-5772 FAX: 515/281-3384 Martha E. Verchot, AHIP Univ of Alabama at Birmingham UAB/Lister Hill Library 1530 3rd Avenue South LHL-119A Birmingham, AL 35294-0013 mverchot@uab.edu TEL: 205/934-2231 FAX: 205/975-8313 Membership Renewals Gayle J Ablove, AHIP Roswell Park Cancer Institute Edwin A Mirand Library Elm & Carlton Streets Buffalo, NY 14263-0001 gayle.ablove@roswellpark.org TEL: 716/845-5966 FAX: 716/845-8699 Barbara Delli Gatti Life Chiropractic College West Library 25001 Industrial Blvd Hayward, CA 94545 bdelliga@lifewest.edu TEL: 510/780-4599 FAX: 510/780-4525 Edmond Fursa New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan 455 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016 efursa@nypl.org TEL: 212/340-0862

PAGE 5 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

Jolene M. Miller, AHIP Medical College of Ohio Raymon H Mulford Library 3045 Arlington Avenue Toledo, OH 43614-5805 jomiller@mco.edu TEL: 419/383-4959 FAX: 419/383-6146 Joseph Fred Moss Women’s Hospital of Greensboro Medical Library 801 Green Valley Road Greensboro, NC 27408 fred.moss@mosescone.com TEL: 336/832-6878 FAX: 336/274-9408 Kristine M. Scannell National Library of Medicine Reference Services 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20894 scannelk@nlm.nih.gov TEL: 301/435-4895 Anna Schlosser Bluemlisalpstr. 19 Zurich, CH-8006 SWITZERLAND schloss@uszbib.unizh.ch Lori C. Steib, AHIP Louisiana State Univ Pennington Biomedical Rsrch Ctr Pennington Info Ctr 6400 Perkins Road Baton Rouge, LA 70808-4124 steibll@mhs.pbrc.edu TEL: 225/763-2556 FAX: 225/763-2558

Cathy Weglarz UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Library of the Health Sciences PO Box 19 New Brunswick, NJ 08903 weglarca@umdnj.edu TEL: 732/235-7604 FAX: 732/235-7826 Mary Elizabeth Youngkin University of Utah Eccles Health Sciences Library 10 N 1900 East, Bldg 589 Salt Lake City, UT 84112-5890 maryy@lib.med.utah.edu TEL: 801/581-5534 FAX: 801/581-3632 Address Change Judy Kraemer 4662 Cathy Ave Cypress, CA 90630 TEL: 323/442-3313 Address & Name Change Sharon Gray Weiner, AHIP Vanderbilt University Peabody Library Box 325 Peabody Campus Nashville, TN 37203-5601

PAGE 6 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

The Value and Values of Libraries

Most librarians would agree that as a group we hold common values that bind us together regardless of the communities we serve or the kind of libraries we work in. But what are these values exactly and how do they contribute to the overall value of libraries in today’s world? Michael Gorman addressed these questions in a thought-provoking talk at MLA 2002, co-sponsored by the Public Services and Consumer and Patient Health Information Sections. Gorman, Dean of Library Services at Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno, is a well-known figure in the library world, most notably as the au-thor of the Concise AACR2, 1998 Revision. He is also often called one of the great librarian thinkers of our time and has written two books, Our Enduring Values, and Our Singular Strengths, Meditations for Librarians, which together outline the philosophy of librarianship that Gorman has developed over his forty years in the profession. In his talk, Gorman shared the central ideas discussed in both of these books, and made a strong case that it is values that will allow librarians and the libraries they work in to persist and thrive in the future. The ten values that Gorman deems to be commonly held by librarians include Stewardship, Service, In-tellectual Freedom, Privacy, Rationalism, Commitment to Literacy and Learning, Equity of Access to Re-corded Knowledge and Information, and Democracy. Stewardship refers to the collection, maintenance, and transfer of recorded knowledge from one generation to the next. The “hallmark” of our profession, according to Gorman, is Service. Gorman believes that a sense of serving our user communities should pervade all that we do and that the success or failure of all our plans and projects should be judged on how well they help us serve our patrons. In regards to Intellectual Freedom, Gorman stated that we must be “absolutists despite our own opinions,” and that despite recent pressures, that we most uphold our value of Privacy and maintain the right of our patrons to access information without fear of disclo-sure. We must remember that “rationalism is the antidote to intolerance,” and that we should approach our day to day work, from dealing with censors to planning new projects, in a rational manner. According to Gorman, the greatest value libraries have to society as a whole is the overall service librar-ies provide to the promoting of democracy. A literate, informed populace is tantamount to the success of a democratic nation and to further this, libraries should ensure that the value of Equity of Access is not endangered by the rush to acquire digital resources that might be biased towards those who are better off economically. Our value of Commitment to Literacy and Learning not only means that we should pro-mote reading and life-long learning in our communities, but that we also recognize that literacy is a con-tinuing process and we should provide ample materials for people all along the continuum of reading lev-els. In addition to discussing our core values, Gorman also addressed the effect that technology has on values. Gorman argued persuasively and eloquently that these values are not only immutable in the face of tech-nology, but that they should not be abandoned or squandered for technology’s sake. While clearly not a Luddite, Gorman railed against the idea that purely digital libraries are somehow better than traditional libraries and should supplant them entirely. He displays a great amount of affection for the library as place and an equal amount of disdain for those who see this as an unnecessary component to providing access to information no matter what form it is in. Gorman pointed out that physical libraries have al-ways served as more than buildings in which information is stored and accessed. They also provide quiet places to study and serve as gathering places. Gorman stated that while traditional libraries can be a powerful force in promoting links in society, that digital libraries promote “isolation and alienation.” For Gorman, this is one of the most powerful reasons that libraries will continue to be of the utmost impor-tance to the communities they serve.

Tanya Marie Sanchez, MA, MLIS

LDS Hospital Library Salt Lake City, UT

PAGE 7 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

Minutes of the 2002 PSS Annual Business Meeting

MLA Public Services Section Business Meeting Sunday, May 19, 2002 Dallas, Texas IN ATTENDANCE: Mary Adams, Pam Bradigan, Stewart Brower, Virginia Carden, Susan Dorsey, Alice Edwards, Barbara Francis, Charles Greenberg, Michelle La Voie, Janna Lawrence, Sondra Pfeiffer, Ruey Rodman, Barbara Slater, Mary K. Taylor, Martha Verchot CALL TO ORDER: The Chair, Barbara Slater, called the meeting to order at 7:30am. Barbara distributed a packet containing the updated agenda and Section reports submitted to her prior to the Annual Meeting. She noted that the meeting program incorrectly listed the starting time as 7:00 a.m. and expressed appreciation to those who showed up early and waited patiently. Attendees introduced themselves. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: Barbara asked for approval of the 2001 Business Meeting held on Sun-day, May 27, 2001 in Orlando, Florida. The Minutes of last year’s meeting (as published in the PSS Newslet-ter Volume 16, Issue 1 Fall 2001) were approved by acclimation. REPORTS OF SECTION OFFICERS Secretary/Treasurer: Secretary/Treasurer Charles Greenberg presented the Treasurer’s Annual Report dated May 6, 2002 and re-ported a net Section treasury balance of $11,771.77. All checks issued as of the report date have been submit-ted for payment. Overall, expenses for 2001-2002 exceeded income by about $700, but this is not a concern, given expected occasions to spend more for better quality programming. Charles also mentioned that signifi-cant expense items such as printing and distributing of the PSS directory could be eliminated with electronic distribution. This topic was added as a discussion item for later in the Meeting. Charles also recounted his action in 2001 to move a proportion of the PSS Treasury into two $4000 six-month certificates of deposit at our checking account bank, yielding better interest returns. A three-month lag between the two CD purchases provides a certificate liquidation or rollover opportunity every three months, in case our Section needs more cash on hand. Charles expressed his appreciation for the appearance of a capable volunteer, Mary Adams, to succeed him as Secretary/Treasurer, given the unexpected withdrawal of the 2002 treasurer-elect. Incoming Chair/Program: Incoming Chair Sondra Pfeiffer presented the PSS Program Committee Report and thanked paper reviewers Roberta Bronson Fitzpatrick, Linda Butson, and Sharon Gray. She then reviewed the program being pre-sented in Dallas: Sunday May 19th 4:00-5:30pm: Diversity of Duties: Linda Butson will moderate this contributed papers program, co-sponsored by the Technical Services Section. Monday May 20th 10:30am-12:00pm: Invited Speaker Michael Gorman, Dean of library Services for Cali-fornia State University, Fresno. PSS is also co-sponsoring a contributed papers section called Dollars and Sense: Part II during the Mon-day May 20th, 10:30am-12:00pm time slot. PSS will also repeat the successful topical roundtable discussions during the informal gathering time on

(Continued on page 8)

VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1 PSS NEWSLETTER PAGE 8

Tuesday, May 21st at 4:30pm, with light refreshments. Section Council Representative: PSS Section Council (SC) representative Barbara Francis presented her 2001-2002 annual report, which re-viewed the activities of SC from the final meeting at the 2001 MLA Annual meeting until Spring 2002, when Barbara retired and initiated the transfer of SC responsibility for PSS to SC Alternate Janna Lawrence. Bar-bara also reported on the most recent activities of SC at this Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 18th. On Sat-urday, SC discussed the format of a standard meeting plan grid for the next three years of the MLA annual meeting. At SC, the description of the San Diego 2003 meeting space was described as spread out and suitable for more poster sessions. Barbara also mentioned that PSS member Kay Root created a quilt square that will represent PSS in an MLA quilting project. As outgoing SC liaison to the MLA Continuing Education (CE) Committee, Barbara also mentioned the Online Education Task Force charged by the MLA CE Committee with developing distance education. SC is also interested in supporting a new Recruitment Task Force initia-tive to bring more medical librarians out of library school and into the profession. COMMITTEE REPORTS Membership: Susan Dorsey reported that the PSS/MLA has 238 members as of May 1, compared to 223 at this time last year. A membership directory was mailed this spring, producing about $850 dollars in expenses. Susan sug-gested the paper distribution was a potential cost saving area if we could go to electronic distribution for the majority of the copies. This idea will be explored more after the Annual Meeting, given the need to gather opinions from the entire PSS membership. Although Susan was intending to resign from her role as Member-ship Committee chair, the considerable satisfaction and appreciation for Susan's hard work led her to re-commit to serve another year and look for a mentoring opportunity for a future successor. Nominating: Alice Edwards presented the Nominating Committee report on the election for 2002-2003 of Charles Green-berg to the position of Chair Elect and Section Program Coordinator, Janna Lawrence as Section Council Rep-resentative-elect, and Caryn Scoville as Secretary-Treasurer. Caryn resigned for personal reasons, and the PSS Executive Board appointed Mary G. Adams to serve as the Secretary-Treasurer for 2002-2004. During the discussion of the report, Barbara Francis suggested a more aggressive promotion for candidates. Newsletter Michelle La Voie and Stewart Brower presented their Newsletter Editor’s Annual Report, which included the recommendation to consider an all-electronic format for newsletter distribution. Discussion of electronic distri-bution was deferred for the new business part of the meeting. Stewart mentioned that he had not submitted an expense reimbursement yet, based on a delay in his institution’s ability to generate a bill for internal produc-tion expenses. Bylaws: Kristin was unable to attend the meeting. The 2001 Bylaws revision, which passed at last year’s business meeting, is available on the PSS Web Site. Liaison to the Government Relations Committee (GRC): Nancy Tannery submitted a report to Barbara Slater but was not at the meeting. Nancy’s activity consisted of monitoring ALA, AAMC, and MLA advocacy sites for governmental relations. Standards Committee: No Report. Ammon Ripple was not able to attend the business meeting. Web Site No Report. Sally Kasalko was not able to attend the business meeting. Martha Verchot will succeed Sally as the PSS Web Site editor.

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VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1 PSS NEWSLETTER PAGE 9

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP REPORTS Access Services (Susan Dorsey and Jennifer Lloyd): No report. Fee-Based Services (Scott Marsalis): Scott was not able to be at the business meeting. Prior to the annual meeting, he reported to Barbara Slater that the primary activity of the SIG during the last year has been a survey of PSS membership to identify those who were interested in the SIG. General Reference (Sharon Gray): Sharon was not able to be at the business meeting. Prior to the annual meeting, she reported to Barbara Slater that the primary activity of the SIG during the last year has been to contribute articles to each issue of the PSS Newsletter, in consultation with the newsletter editors. Information Management Education (Marlene Porter): Marlene was not able to be at the business meeting. Prior to the annual meeting, she reported to Barbara Slater that the SIG established an online discussion group (imesig@yahoogroups.com) in December of 2001. Marlene also requested that an automatic subscription option to this online group be added to the IME section of the PSS Web Site. Online Services (Janis Glover): No Report Public Services Management: No Report (No active SIG this year) OTHER BUSINESS Section Web Site hosted by MLA Barbara Slater described her investigation of the costs associated with MLA hosting a Section Web Site. Sec-tions provide a $25 (soon to be $50) initial startup fee, and ongoing monthly charges for hosting ($15) and an MLA-sponsored email group ($10) which add up to an annual budget of $300 plus the startup fee. Martha has volunteered to take over Section Web administration, and she will explore the consequences and benefits of MLA or non-MLA hosting solutions. Membership in the current PSS e-mail list is based on members taking the action to join, and a group consensus was expressed to automatically add/invite new PSS members to current and future e-mail lists. Martha accepted the charge to manage Web Site activity and possible migration to the MLA-sponsored service. Online Membership Directory (Proposal) A suggestion was made that the Section Web Site could host the PSS Membership Directory online, perhaps in a password-protected mode. It was pointed out that MLA generates income from the sale of mailing lists to ven-dors and that vendors could also be PSS members and could create their own mailing lists. Barbara Slater sug-gested that the changing nature of membership information called for a more dynamic format. Janna suggested that an online directory might offer different strengths and therefore complement a print directory. Mary Tay-lor suggested a cost vs. utility analysis would be necessary to establish the value of either approach. Barbara polled the PSS members present for support to give the Membership Committee the authority to investigate e-mail distribution of the PSS Membership Directory. A voice vote in the affirmative was expressed. Newsletter Distributed Electronically for 2002/2003 (Proposal) Newsletter editors Stewart and Michelle led a discussion of the potential benefits of an all-electronic newsletter. These include an improved distribution timeline, more dynamic and attractive content, and the cost savings as-sociated with printing and mailing. Janna added that a plain text version would not be as attractive as the PDF format. Stewart reiterated that one format might not satisfy everyone and that multiple electronic versions could be considered. In his opinion, most users could handle attachments. Janna mentioned that the newsletter

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PAGE 10 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

was a tangible benefit of section membership. Barbara Slater expressed her opinion that timely communication of an electronic newsletter supports our service mission. Ruey suggested that the transition of both the PSS Web Site and newsletter should proceed in tandem, with close communication. Susan suggested that an elec-tronic newsletter would increase the difficulty and qualifications for the newsletter editor position. Stewart also suggested that future electronic newsletter editors would have to have access to desktop publishing and conver-sion software, possibly with section financial support. Barbara polled the PSS members present for support to give the Newsletter Committee the authority to investigate and propose a transition. A voice vote in the af-firmative was expressed. Policy and Procedures Manual Revision Barbara Slater reminded everyone that the Section Policy and Procedure manual is on the PSS Web Site (http://www.library.uams.edu/pssmla/aboutpss/proceduremanual.html). She asked for assistance in identifying areas ripe for revision. Additional Volunteers to Fill PSS Positions In the interest of time, discussion to identify volunteers was deferred, in order to allow time for discussion of next year's programming. Next Year’s Programming Ideas Charles led a discussion of possible PSS program themes for the 2003 meeting in San Diego. Barbara Slater recorded the ideas on an easel pad. They included:

Managing E-journals (2) Generational differences in librarianship Evidence-based librarianship (3) Biological Agents / biotechnology information Quality searching Undeserved populations: gay youth Content development for portable devices (7) Changing nature of bibliographic instruction /distance education /techniques vs. technology (13) Virtual real-time Reference (11) Resource sharing, ILL, and budget cuts Changing nature of reference Fee for public service Outreach Copyright-implications of our actions

Charlie polled the PSS membership in attendance and asked them to identify their top two or three choices. The number in parentheses indicates the votes that each topic received, providing Charlie with some idea of common programming interest. Charlie thanked everyone for his or her opinion, which will aid him at next Wednesday's section programming meeting. Thanks and closure of the 2001-2002 terms Barbara thanked outgoing officers and acknowledged the start of the 2002-2003 terms for new PSS officers. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:05am.

Respectfully submitted, Charles J. Greenberg

2000-2002 Secretary/Treasurer

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PSS Roundtable Reports The Public Service Section sponsored a Roundtable Sharing Session at MLA. Five groups met and discussed topics of interest. Below are summaries of a few of the sessions.

The Future of Interlibrary Loan Facilitator: Barbara Slater A lively and engaging conversation between ten li-brarians with one to sixteen years in interlibrary loan. Individuals shared visions of what ILL might look like in 2005 and acknowledged the complexities of interli-brary loan: from copyright to billing issues, from tech-nology dependence to student staffing. Our envisioned future will include increased volume, portable scan-ners, nearly all documents delivered electronically, fewer copiers and fax machines, closer relationships with the Circulation functions, less paper, all with the same amount of staff. We will need to be creative, build strong teams, and somewhere along the way have fun. Expert Searching and Research Patient Safety Facilitator: Kate Oliver Seven librarians engaged in a thoughtful discussion of the role of “expert searching” in their institutions at a roundtable session sponsored by the Public Services Section at the May 2002 MLA Annual Meeting in Dal-las. The librarians came from a wide range of institu-tions: University of Texas Southwest Medical Center,

the University of Florida Health Science Center, the State Library of Iowa, the University of North Dakota, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Missouri - Columbia, and Yale University. Services where librari-ans utilized their searching expertise included medical student training and services to external clients through an AHEC. Librarians in the group also applied their search expertise on campus committees including patient education, web services, nursing research (where assistance in posing a clinical question is re-quired), residency accreditation, residency directors, and a literature search committee responsible for de-veloping and testing search guidelines for use by inves-tigators and institutional review boards. Other applica-tions included providing search services to the state department of health and the state's attorney general's office. Open Source / Open Knowledge Facilitator: Charles Greenberg The creator of Prospero (Eric Schnell) provided an OSS crash-course to a couple of PSSers eager to learn about the pros and cons of non-commercial licensed distribution.

The editors would like to thank the facilitators for contributing these reports.

Supreme Court to Hear Case on Corporate Copyright Extensions: Eldred v. Ashcroft

Sometime this fall, the Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of extending the life of corporate-held copyrights by 20 years. In 1998, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act was passed after much aggressive lobbying by large me-dia producers, including, most notably, Disney. Its trade-marked cartoon rodent, Mickey Mouse, would have passed into the public domain in 2003 under the previ-ous law, which granted copyright ownership for 75 years for works owned by corporations. Other major creative works held by the likes of AOL Time Warner and Sony would likewise have become fodder for public domain use. The Motion Picture Association of America and the Record Industry Association of America also have a vested interest in the outcome of this case.

Eric Eldred, who operates a Web site that has contained literary works such as poems by Robert Frost, is the lead plaintiff. Stanford University Professor Lawrence Les-sig, who was a key witness in the Microsoft antitrust trial, is the lead attorney for the challengers. The legal challenge posed in Elred v. Ashcroft argues that Congress overstepped its authority when it granted the extension because the Constitution specifies that copyrights must be granted only "for limited times." The government viewpoint, as stated by Attorney General John Ashcroft, is that legislators acted within their power.

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Skin Cancer Sites on the Web The following are links to databases and organizations that provide resources for health care professionals and patients looking for accurate information about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of skin cancer. Texas Medical Association's Physician Oncology Education Program sponsors a Skin Cancer: Preven-tion/Early Detection page at http://www.texmed.org/has/prs/pop/scd.asp with ordering information for train-ing modules for healthcare professionals and teachers and posters and guidebooks for families and patients. Clinical Trials (http://clinicaltrials.gov/) is the National Institute of Health's database of ongoing clinical trials. To get to skin cancer trials, select "Browse by Condition" on the home page, then select "Alphabetically," and on the next screen click on "S," then on "Skin Neoplasms." MedlinePlus at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/skincancer.html highlights the latest news, clinical trials, diagnosis and symptoms, treatment, and Spanish language brochures on skin cancer. National Skin Cancer Prevention Education Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/nscpep/skin.htm features information about risk, prevention techniques, and the CDC's efforts to prevent and educate people about skin cancer Skin Cancer and Benign Tumor Image Atlas hosted by the Loyola University Medical Education Network at http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/medicine/dermatology/content.htm provides excellent online im-ages of skin cancers by histology and site. Skin Cancer Foundation at http://www.skincancer.org/index.html is concerned exclusively with the world's most common malignancy -- cancer of the skin. The Skin Cancer Resources Directory at http://www.cancerindex.org/clinks2s.htm provides links to both clinical and patient education online resources from the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center at http://www.mdanderson.org/Care_Centers/Skin includes practice guidelines, treatment options, and advice for newly diagnosed patients with skin cancer.

Original Webliography prepared by Texas Medical Association Library http://www.texmed.org/liy/hot_topic_bibliography.asp.

Humming for Good Sinus Health

Humming a happy tune can ease the mind and heart--and may also help the nasal passages. According to a new report by Swedish researchers, humming lets peo-ple exhale significantly more air from their nasal pas-sages than during usual exhalations, which could lower frequent hummers' risk of sinus infections. "Proper ventilation of the sinuses is essential for sinus integrity," the authors write. "The data presented here indicate that humming is an extremely effective means of increasing sinus ventilation."

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2002;166:144-145.

Recycled Air Not Cause of Colds

Although people might catch colds while traveling via airplane, a new study suggests that the recycled air on newer planes is not to blame. At least on shorter flights of around 2 hours, passen-gers on airplanes that recycle the air are no more likely to come down with a cold or runny nose than those riding on planes with fresh air. Newer, more fuel efficient planes typically recycle as much as fifty percent of the air for breathing.

Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;288:483-486

PAGE 13 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

Upcoming Fall Conferences

MLA Fall Chapter Conferences September 22-24 NAHSL 2002: Summit@Attitash. Annual meeting of the North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries Chapter. Location: Bartlett, NH. For more information, visit http://dana.uvm.edu/nahsl/. September 27-October 1 Staying in the Current, Navigating the Future: MLA Midwest Chapter Annual Conference 2002. Annual meeting co-hosted by the Midwest Chapter and the Health Science Libraries of Minnesota. Location: Minneapolis, MN. For more information, visit http://www.midwestmla.org/2002conference/. October 5-8 MCMLA 2002 Virtual Vortex. Annual meeting of the Midcontinental Chapter. Location: Topeka, KS. For more information, visit http://www.kumc.edu/mcmla/mcmla2002/index.html. October 9-11 Virtually Yours: Developing Library Services Be-yond Conventional Barriers. UNYOC 2002 Annual Conference. Annual meeting of the Upstate New York/Ontario Chapter. Location: Geneva, NY. For more information, visit http://www.unyoc.org/conference/index.html. October 12-16 SCC/MLA 2002. Annual meeting of the South Central Chapter. Location: San Antonio, TX. For more informa-tion, visit http://www.sccmla.org/Meetings/mtg.html. October 15 Mapping Our Future: Annual Meeting of the New York-New Jersey Chapter, 2002. Location: New York, NY. For more information, visit http://www.nynjmla.org/annmtg2002.html. October 17-19 Capitolizing On Our Legacy! MAC-MLA 1952-2002. Annual meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Location: Washington, DC. For more information, visit http://www.cbil.vcu.edu/mac/events/2002/meeting.html.

October 17-20 Libraries Creating One World: Connections, Col-laborations, Cooperatives. Southern Chapter/MLA 2002 Annual Meeting. Location: Nashville, TN. For more information, visit http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/SCMLA2002/index.html. October 19-22 PNC 2002: Bringing It All Together. Annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Chapter. Location: Vancouver, BC. For more information, visit http://depts.washington.edu/pncmla/. Other Fall Library Conferences September 13-17 Library Assessment and Benchmarking Institute (LAB 2002). An ARL-FLICC-SLA Event. Location: Mon-terey, CA. For more information, visit http://arl.cni.org/libqual/events/sla.html. September 27-28 New Ways of Listening to Library Users: Tools for Measuring Service Quality. An ARL and SLA Work-shop. Location: Washington, DC. For more information, visit http://arl.cni.org/libqual/events/listen/index2.html. October 1-4 EDUCAUSE 2002: Juggling Opportunities in Col-laborative Environments. EDUCAUSE 2002 Annual Conference. Location: Atlanta, GA. For more informa-tion, visit http://www.educause.edu/conference/e2002/. October 10-13 LITA National Forum: Making Connections. An-nual LITA National Forum. Location: Houston, TX. For more information, visit: http://www.lita.org/forum02/index.html. October 18 Institutional Repositories: A Workshop on Creat-ing an Infrastructure for Faculty-Library Partner-ships. Co-sponsored by ARL, SPARC, and CNI. Loca-tion: Washington, DC. For more information, visit: http://arl.cni.org/ir2002.html.

(Continued on page 14)

Fall is nearly upon us which means it’s conference-season for many Medical Library Association chapters. In recog-nition of the valuable programs being planned by the chapters, the editors have decided to list the dates, locations, and themes of all of the conferences for which information is available. Consider attending your local chapter’s con-ference, or even another chapter’s meeting, this fall to learn from your colleagues and meet great people! We have followed this with a second list of more general library-related conferences taking place this fall that may be of in-terest to the membership.

PAGE 14 PSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1

November 4-6 Internet Librarian 2002: Navigating in Turbulent Waters. Internet Conference & Exhibition for Librari-ans & Information Managers. Sponsored by Informa-tion Today, Computers in Libraries, Link-Up, Multime-dia Schools, Searcher, and KMWorld. Location: Palm Springs, CA. For more information, visit: http://www.infotoday.com/il2002. November 11-12 Charting the Course for Reference: Toward a Preferred Future (Virtual Reference Desk Con-ference 2002). Sponsored by Virtual Reference Desk and OCLC Institute. Location: Chicago, IL. For more information, visit http://www.oclc.org/institute/events/vrd2002/index.htm

November 14-16 The E-ssential Library: Creating and Sustaining Our Leading Edge. 2nd National Institute Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA). Location: Naples, FL. For more information, visit http://www.ala.org/lama/essential/. November 18-21 ASIST 2002: Information, Connections and Com-munity. Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science & Technology. Location: Philadel-phia, PA. For more information, visit http://www.asis.org/Conferences/AM02/index.html.

(Continued from page 13)

AMA Survey: More Docs Use Internet for Work Almost half of physicians report that the World Wide Web has had a major impact on the way they practice medicine, according to a new study released today by the American Medical Association (AMA). The rising influ-ence of the Internet on clinical medicine has propelled an increase in the frequency and duration of Web use among the 78% of physicians who now make use of cyberspace. These new findings come from the 2002 AMA Study on Physicians’ Use of the World Wide Web, which inter-viewed a total of 977 physicians in the United States from August to December 2001. The newly released survey is the fourth analysis of nationwide patterns of online physicians conducted by the AMA. The top-line findings of the new survey reveal the following trends in physician Web use: • Physician use of the Web is becoming more frequent. Two-thirds of online physicians access the Web daily,

an increase of 24% since 1997. • Physicians who use the Web have extended the hours they spend online. The average number of hours a

physician uses the Web per week jumped from 4.3 in 1997 to 7.1 in 2001. • Additional growth can be expected in the number of hours spent on the Web, with physicians indicating

they expect to use the Internet an average of 9.6 hours per week during the next 6 months. • Although there is still a trend for younger physicians to use the Web more than older physicians, the per-

centage of older physicians using the Web increased rapidly from the previous year. In 2001, 65% of physi-cians 60 years of age or older used the Web, compared with 43% in 2000.

• Approximately 3 of 10 physicians using the Internet currently have a Web site, a proportion that has re-

mained constant since 1999. The primary reasons physicians have a site on the Web is to promote and advertise their practice or provide patient education and information. In 2001, the percentage of physicians using the Web to advertise and pro-mote their practice grew by 11% from the previous year.

Edited from AMA Press Release: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/1616-6473.html

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Pictured (L to R): Barbara Francis Michelle La Voie Stewart Brower Barbara Slater Susan Dorsey Charles Greenberg Sondra Pfeiffer Mary Adams

Photo contributed by Martha Verchot, Assoc. Professor

Education Coordinator & Senior Web Editor UAB/Lister Hill Library

PSS 2002 Meeting Photo

TVs Set to Go Floppy Roll-up, flexible televisions have become possible thanks to a glowing plastic compound perfected in the labo-ratories of Britain's Cambridge Display Technology (CDT). CDT began with the 1989 discovery of the com-pound p-phenylenevinylene which glows a green-yellow when given an electrically charged. Ten years later and scientists began producing compounds that emitted blue and red light as well. Now it would seem we’re on the verge of the roll-up television, according to CDT publicists, who expect them to begin rolling onto the market as early as 2004 or 2005. Japanese technology vendors Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba, are leading the race to put the new technology to use, but not far behind is the military, which envi-sions roll-up digital maps fed with global positioning data from orbiting satellites.

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Wrapping Up the

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Other News and Info Inside!