UPMC Shadyside Libraries -- Celebrating Five Years of Success
On October 23, 2000, the dedication of UPMC Shadyside’s Hopwood Library: A Health Resource Center for Patients and Families celebrated the opening of this special facility, and the simultaneous rededication of the adjoining James Frazer Hillman Health Sciences Library.
It has been a busy five years. The renovation and affiliation with the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) greatly expanded the capabilities of the libraries. As part of HSLS, the two physically contiguous libraries are actively involved in cardiac and diabetes patient education, library instruction for the Shadyside School of Nursing, resident education, and medical staff support. An article in press in the Journal of the Medical Library Association discusses the impact of one of the library’s initiatives in patient education.
In recognition of the facility’s unique design, the 2003 edition of Consumer Health Information Sourcebook1 profiled it as one of 12 “excellent examples” of consumer health libraries in the United States and Canada. A report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science2 on the challenge of providing consumer health information services lists the Hopwood Library as one of 17 “Model Consumer Health Libraries” in the country.
More than 3,090 patients in addition to 3,000 health care professionals requested information during the past five years. Librarians Michelle Burda and Michele Klein Fedyshin participate in the Patient Education Committee, Research Council, Evidence-Based Practice Workshops for the hospital, and are frequently invited to lecture to various hospital groups.
To recognize five years of service, the libraries will hold an Open House on October 27, 2005. Invited guests and hospital staff will help to commemorate this special anniversary. As an integral part of the health care team, the libraries’ dedicated staff looks forward to continuing to serve the information needs of UPMC Shadysideclinicians and patients.
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1. Alan M. Rees, editor, Consumer Health Information Sourcebook (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003).
2. Mary Casella Chobot, The challenge of providing consumer health information services in public libraries (Washington, D.C. : American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2002).
--Michele Klein Fedyshin and Michelle Burda
