desktop document delivery, online instruction, and electronic course reserves
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This article was downloaded by: [University of Massachusetts, Amherst]On: 05 October 2014, At: 06:29Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK
Journal of InterlibraryLoan, Document Delivery &Electronic ReservePublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wild20
Desktop Document Delivery,Online Instruction, andElectronic Course ReservesP J Koch a , Mary Krieger a & Patrick McCarthy aa Health Sciences Center Library , Saint LouisUniversity , 1402 South Grand, St. Louis, MO, 63104,USAPublished online: 23 Sep 2008.
To cite this article: P J Koch , Mary Krieger & Patrick McCarthy (2007) DesktopDocument Delivery, Online Instruction, and Electronic Course Reserves, Journalof Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, 17:1-2, 45-52, DOI:10.1300/J474v17n01_07
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Desktop Document Delivery, OnlineInstruction, and Electronic Course Reserves:
Expanding Electronic Health SciencesLibrary Services
P J KochMary Krieger
Patrick McCarthy
ABSTRACT. Health sciences libraries are expanding services that useonline technologies to support teaching, research, and clinical careneeds. Saint Louis University’s Health Sciences Center (SLU HSC) Li-brary has developed strong, user-centered, online services in interlibraryloan, bibliographic instruction, and electronic reserves. The authorspresent their successful experiences in using electronic technologies toimprove library services.
Journal articles are provided, often the same day as requested throughinterlibrary loan, and delivered in electronic format using OCLC’s ILLiadprogram. First-year SLU medical students now complete a self-paced, allonline, Health Information Resources course that targets the most relevantbiomedical resources, reduces student study time, and is viewed as a modelfor the entire curriculum. ERes, the electronic reserves program, allowsfaculty to provide course materials that are accessible at the convenience
P J Koch is Interlibrary Loan Coordinator (E-mail: [email protected]); Mary Kriegeris Reference Librarian and Course Director for Health Information Resources (E-mail:[email protected]); and Patrick McCarthy is Associate University Librarian for HealthSciences (E-mail: [email protected]), all at Health Sciences Center Library, SaintLouis University, 1402 South Grand, St. Louis, MO 63104.
Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic ReserveVol. 17(1/2) 2007
Available online at http://jildd.haworthpress.com© 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1300/J474v17n01_07 45
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of students 24 hours a day. These online programs are examples of usingelectronic technologies to better support user needs for excellent libraryservices. doi:10.1300/J474v17n01_07 [Article copies available for a fee fromThe Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address:<[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com>© 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
KEYWORDS. Online library services, access to library resources, in-novative library practices, interlibrary loan, electronic reserves, biblio-graphic instruction, ILLiad, ERes
It is accepted wisdom to say that constant change is part of the libraryprofession. Adapting to and managing change is a regular part of whatlibrarians do every day. The shift in the delivery of information fromprint to electronic formats has been, and will continue to be, the singlemost profound change to influence current professional work. Everyarea of academic librarianship has been fundamentally altered by the in-troduction of electronically accessible information.
Yale University’s Medical Library recently reported that they, likemany of us, now serve more patrons virtually through the delivery ofelectronic resources than in any other way.1 A study entitled LibraryUsage Patterns in the Electronic Information Environment2 reports thatthe use of electronic journals in academic health sciences libraries isnow four times as frequent as that of print journals. According to thesame study, faculty, staff, and research fellows use online journals at aratio of 5:1, electronic over print. The study also reports that more than73% of electronic access to library resources occurs outside the library,either on campus or off campus.
A decade ago, we barely knew what e-journals were. Now e-journalsare used four times as often as traditional print formats. This proportionwill only continue to grow. For those of us who began our work in librari-anship before the proliferation of electronic resources, such rapid and on-going change has been unsettling, even as we acknowledge and embracethe improvements made by the electronic delivery of information.
When we take a step back for a moment to reflect on what seems likea never-ending cycle of change in librarianship, we are tempted to ask:how much has really changed? Granted, e-journal use has eclipsed printjournal use, and we now deliver interlibrary loan articles electronically,and we provide many services virtually rather than in person. We eventeach many courses online. However, the essential nature of what we do
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remains the same. The basic functions we perform–uniting users withthe information resources they seek–are essentially unchanged in theelectronic era.
In contrast, how we do our work–as opposed to what we do–haschanged in profound ways and will continue to do so. When we makethe distinction between the continuity of what we do and the ongoingevolution in how we do it, it becomes easier to look into the future with amore coherent sense of how to plan service improvements.
Libraries exist to serve their users. That has been and will be our mis-sion, Academic medical libraries are adapting to changes in the learningand research environment and changes in the behavior of library users.Libraries are adding new digital resources and services at the same timewe maintain traditional formats and services. Finding the right balancebetween online and print collections is a key challenge for academic li-braries that have become a hybrid of the old and the new.
ILLIAD–A SUCCESSFUL ODYSSEY
IN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DELIVERY
Implementation of the OCLC ILLiad system, the Health SciencesCenter Library at Saint Louis University reengineered its traditionalinterlibrary loan services. The ILLiad system further automated andstreamlined interlibrary loan operations, reduced human error and im-proved turnaround time. Patrons now use ILLiad to initiate requests andretrieve requested articles online.
When the HSC Library introduced electronic document delivery ofjournal articles in 2003 via our ILLiad interlibrary loan service, we im-mediately began to hear from faculty users who were (1) nearly ecstaticabout receiving a PDF file of the article they had requested, and (2) thatthe article was usually delivered within a day to their computer desktop.Although our interlibrary loan services were already very strong prior tothe introduction of ILLiad, we set new standards for rapid turnaroundtime and convenience by using the ILLiad system.
ILLiad automates routine interlibrary loan functions through a sin-gle, Windows-based interface customized to meet local needs. ILLiadautomates the processing of interlibrary loan borrowing by allowingusers to submit and track their own requests from any computer with anInternet connection. ILLiad also compiles statistics on lending, borrow-ing, and financial tracking functions within these modules.
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After looking at several interlibrary loan systems, SLU HSC Librarychose ILLiad because it was an integrated system that worked withOCLC and DOCLINE. Many other systems at that time supported oneor the other, but not both. ILLiad improved our workflow by automatingfunctions such as keying patron information and manual request track-ing. As a result, we eliminated most of our internal paperwork and allpaper forms for users.
Following licensing and installation in January 2001, we imple-mented the ILLiad lending module. The borrowing module went live inMarch 2003 after complete testing and customization of supporting webpages. Since borrowing implementation, we have delivered more than28,000 articles electronically to our users. For articles received viaARIEL, ILLiad automatically converts them to PDF files, posts them tothe server, and contacts the patron about availability by e-mail. For arti-cles received by mail or fax, we scan and deliver them to users electroni-cally.
ILLiad interfaces with major resource sharing networks like OCLC’sFirstSearch, DOCLINE, and RLIN. ILLiad can also be set up to authen-ticate patrons in conjunction with an integrated library system like Inno-vative Interfaces Inc. ILLiad’s web-based design provides patrons witha window to their ILLiad accounts from wherever they have access tothe Internet. First-time users are required to complete a one-time onlineregistration form that generally takes less than a minute. After creatingan initial profile, users need only key-in their username and passwordfor future transactions. Patron profile information is automatically in-serted into their requests. Users can also select their preferred method ofdelivery for requested materials.
Once a requested article has arrived, the patron is contacted bye-mail. The notification e-mail is a template that provides request infor-mation and a link to the ILLiad website so that they patron may loginand retrieve their article. Once logged in, the patron can select the articlethey want to view or print. Articles are retained on the ILLiad server forthirty days. Articles reside on the server so that the file size of articlesdoes not present a problem in attempting delivery to e-mail accountswith limited capacity. Though most articles are provided as high qualityblack and white PDF images, ILLiad also delivers color PDFs.
ILLiad can receive requests from OCLC’s FirstSearch and otherOpen URL-compliant database providers. These requests are automati-cally routed to staff for mediated interlibrary loan, or they can be sentdirectly to lenders via OCLC’s ILL Direct Request without staff inter-vention. At the same time, ILLiad supports Z39.50 searching in com-
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patible OPACs and ISO ILL for peer-to-peer lending outside the ILLDirect Request program.
In summary, interlibrary loan, using ILLiad, represents a significantimprovement in services to our users.
HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCES (HIR)–A MODEL FOR ONLINE TEACHING
The Health Information Resources (HIR) module required for all in-coming first-year medical students at SLU began seven years ago. Itwas one of the lowest rated courses in the School of Medicine curricu-lum, but is now, after streamlining and conversion to an all-online for-mat, medical student evaluators rate it third highest rated course.
In 1998, the Saint Louis University (SLU) School of Medicine invitedreference librarians at the Health Sciences Center Library to teach acourse in the retrieval of biomedical information as part of the curriculumfor first-year medical students. The course originally consisted of six con-tent areas: Electronic Resources Survival Kit; Introduction to Problem-Based Learning; Introduction to Literature Searching; MEDLINESearching Hands-On/Publishing Pearls and Pitfalls; World Wide Weband Patient Information; and Introduction to Electronic Mail. The ten-week curriculum used traditional teaching methods such as in-class lec-tures, small group discussions, and hands-on computer lab instruction.Students were graded on a take-home searching assignment, a final ex-amination, and the creation of a patient-oriented resource guide on a dis-ease topic.
Several challenges were encountered during the early years of teach-ing the HIR course. First, students possessed widely differing levels ofcomputer competence and expertise in literature searching. Second,placement of the course within the tightly scheduled medical schoolcurriculum was difficult. Database searching classes in medical schoolsare frequently taught in the first year, but students do not find it neces-sary to perform MEDLINE searches until their clinical rotations in thethird and fourth years. As a result, there is a significant gap in learningthe skill and putting it to use. Third, there were difficulties in schedulingthe HIR class sessions and assignment due dates around the major ex-ams in the medical students’ core courses. Fourth, a major hurdle in theearly years of teaching HIR was that the best spot for the course in thefirst-year curriculum ran concurrently with Gross Anatomy, which isthe most stressful and rigorous module that the first-year students take.
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Fifth, the core medical science courses were viewed by most of the stu-dents as being more immediately important to their medical knowledgethan a MEDLINE searching class.
The students at Saint Louis University School of Medicine are re-quired to participate in a formal evaluation for each course that theycomplete. The feedback we received each year was extremely valuablein helping to revise and re-structure the course. Some of the suggestionsfor HIR that we consistently received were to: (1) condense the mate-rial; (2) make the course more hands-on and less theoretical; and (3) notto schedule HIR during the Anatomy module.
In 2002-2003, librarian instructors met with the Phase I Course Di-rector to discuss presenting the course in a condensed and completelyonline format. From the original content, three modules were retainedthat students had identified as being most useful to them and that the li-brarians felt were essential to physician information management edu-cation. The three modules were as follows:
1. PubMed: Because PubMed is the freely available search enginefor MEDLINE, we felt that it was essential for medical students tobe familiar with this interface.
2. Ovid MEDLINE: This MEDLINE interface was used to demon-strate the concepts of controlled vocabulary, tree structure, subhead-ing use, Boolean operators, and the explode/focus mechanism inliterature searching.
3. Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM): The principles of EBM aretaught to first-year medical students in their Epidemiology/Bio-statics module. In HIR, the focus is on how to formulate a clinicalquestion and the techniques of constructing an EBM search.
In its current format, HIR consists of three self-directed, online tuto-rials and a WebCT quiz of each of the content areas. Students perform asearch in Ovid MEDLINE and in PubMed on two clinical questions thatthey select from an instructor-compiled list. The clinical questions for2004-2005 were adapted from scenarios in USMLE Step 1 reviewbooks to enhance their relevancy. The course begins in October on theday after they finish the Anatomy module. Students e-mail the searchstrategies and a relevant citation to the HIR course director They maycomplete HIR anytime they wish before a deadline in early January,which allows them to work on it during the evenings, weekends, andduring holiday breaks. The course director sends print and e-mail re-minders to students about the deadline, and encourages them to consult
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the Reference Department if they have any questions. In AY 2004-2005, we offered three optional computer lab sessions for students whowished to participate in a hands-on, instructor-guided class. Twenty stu-dents, approximately 12% of the class, attended these optional sessions.
The Health Information Resources course received the followingcommentary in the 2003 School of Medicine curriculum evaluation:
• HIR was redesigned and administered as Web-based, self-directedcourse.
• Students responded to this format with great enthusiasm and ap-preciation.
• The course directors have shown that Web-based instruction as atool for independent learning does work for some medical schoolcontent.
• The success of this course should serve as a model and promotediscussion of other content areas that could b delivered online.
Our experience with the HIR course has demonstrated the value of(1) listening attentively to students and (2) responding to their feedbackand comments.
ELECTRONIC RESERVES–24/7 USER ACCESS TO HIGH DEMAND MATERIALS
ERes is SLU’s electronic reserves program that allows faculty to pro-vide course materials that are accessible 24 hours per day. We now pro-vide ERes services to 40 courses in all of the schools we serve: AlliedHealth, Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health. The service has grown60% in one year. The typical item placed on ERes is an article or bookchapter, but we also post course syllabi, lecture notes, Power Point pre-sentations, practice exams or anything that can be mounted in an elec-tronic format. We added a color scanner to provide color images. Mostof the use of ERes originates outside the library-including to distanceeducation students who are dispersed throughout the world.
ERes is another example of using electronic technology to provideservices that are more effective. Electronic reserve items have unlimitedsimultaneous users so students and faculty need not worry that some-thing is checked out. There are no overdue fines or photocopy costs.Students and faculty regularly express their appreciation for the conve-nient access to course materials provided by ERes. Recently, an alert
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circulation staff member noticed a steady stream of second-year medi-cal students requesting print copies of required course readings that hadbeen placed on permanent reserve prior to the implementation of ERes.A quick query to the faculty member revealed that he was not aware ofthe ERes option, and that he would be delighted to have his course read-ings on gastrointestinal systems available electronically. Circulationstaff immediately began scanning the readings that were made availablevia ERes later that same morning. An e-mailing to the more than 150second-year students notified them of the availability of the assignedreadings on ERes. Several responded almost instantly to the good news,one of them saying, “Thank you. This will save us a lot of time, money,and frustration.”
CONCLUSION
These online programs are examples of using electronic technologiesto better support user needs for excellent library services. The enthusi-astic response to services like ILLiad, the HIR course, and ERes illus-trates the positive impact librarians can have meeting the needs of usersfor access to library resources. This is what we in libraries have alwaysdone. If we continue to listen carefully to our users, and are attentive tothe possibilities suggested by their needs, we can accomplish our ongo-ing role of uniting users with information in new and dynamic ways.How we do that will change. The important value of what we do in pro-viding such service remains the same.
REFERENCES
1. Annual Report (2002-2003). Yale University, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whit-ney Medical Library, page 1. (full report available at: http://www.med.yale.edu/library/about/annualreports/annualreport 2003.pdf).
2. Franklin, B. & Plum, T. (2004). “Library usage patterns in the electronic infor-mation environment” Information Research, 9 (4) paper 187 [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/9-4/paper187.html].
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