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Director's Reflections...HSLS Annual Report CardIn academia and in health care, we compile annual reports to take stock of the year that has passed and to celebrate our achievements. In 2005-06, the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) maintained and expanded its position of leadership and innovation among the nation’s academic health sciences libraries. We are unique in the scope of our integrated services to the University and the hospitals of UPMC. In nearly every measure of size, scope, service or activities, HSLS is among the top 10 academic health sciences libraries in the country, and often in the top five. Highlights of 2005-06 include: • Introduction of new electronic resources, and a streamlined remote access registration process for qualified users anywhere in the world. • Expansion of the Molecular Biology information service with new resources and instructional workshops, and the addition of a second information specialist. One–on-one bioinformatics consultations were offered to 123 researchers, an increase of 71 percent over the previous year. Bioinformatics workshops were offered on 13 topics to 326 participants. • Continued integration of HSLS librarians in the curricula of the schools of the health sciences, graduate medical training, and evidence-based nursing practice. • Participation of reference librarians in daily morning report on the general internal medicine service in UPMC Montefiore. • Inclusion of HSLS librarians in research grants, including PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System), the Dental Informatics Online Community, and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute-Hampton University cancer biology course. • Enhanced public computing facilities in each of the four HSLS libraries. With the opening of a new study lounge in Falk Library, user demand led to the purchase of seven additional circulating notebook computers, bringing the total number to 10. At Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) Library, the former audiovisual area was transformed into a public computing lab with nine computers. VLAN technology was introduced into libraries at UPMC Shadyside, Children’s Hospital and WPIC, and all public computers were upgraded or replaced. • HSLS librarians and staff provided instruction, orientations or tours to more than 9,500 faculty, students and staff. This is an increase of 8 percent over the previous year, when HSLS ranked third among 125 reporting academic health sciences libraries in the United States and Canada. HSLS offers 15 in-house workshops, 10 special topics classes and 19 different Lunch with a Librarian sessions, plus topical workshops on request. Librarians performed 1,892 database searches for HSLS users. Individual information consultations increased by 57 percent to 145. You can read the full HSLS annual report for 2005-2006 at <www.hsls.pitt.edu/about/annual_report.doc>. |
