MLA 2007 Monday, May 21

Having a Librarian in the OR area
presented by Denise Hersey from Cushing/Whitney Library of Yale University
Denise is a liaison to the Anesthesiology Department and when it was suggested to her that she should interact with anesthesiologist residents she set up space in their lounge area with a laptop and a pda. The first week was awkward but then residents started asking her about her pda and what stuff they had access to which gave her an opening to introduce library resources and services. Eventually, anesthesiologists went from being infrequent to non-existent library users to being one of the library's biggest user groups. Denise started out spending 4-6 hours a week there but now most of her clients contact her so she spends less time in the OR. She has been invited by the Chairman of the Department to be a member of the interview committee for prospective new residents. Denise typically spend a great deal of time doing literature searches, teaching RefWorks and Endnote , and demonstrating PDA resources.

Some of her suggestions on how to start and run such a program were:

1. Captivate your audience
a. signs
b. set hours
c. establish a listerv
d. advertise through Grand Rounds

2. Establish what you will need in the way of equipment

3. Establish where you should be physically

4. Provide 0ne-on-one consultations

5. Create a web site for the department

My Idea (this is for you Julie) is why not offer to create Sharepoint sites for various depts' residency programs for their Journal Club articles.