Message From the President

Linda Watson, MLS, AHIP, FMLA
President, Assoc of Academic Health Science Libraries
Director, Health Sciences Libraries
University of Minnesota Twin Cities

AAHSL President’s Message #3

January 29, 2008

The AAHSL Board of Directors met January 10-11 at the Chicago O’Hare Hilton for our annual planning retreat. We approved the 2008 budget which supports a number of ongoing initiatives as well as some notable new ones. Some highlights of our discussions:

AAHSL IT Roadmap Revision: Jim Shedlock, AAHSL Information Management Officer, and Tom Singarella who has agreed to be a technology advisor this year, joined the Board for a discussion of the progress on our IT Roadmap and will be providing a revision to guide our work for 2008 and beyond. More on this next month.

The AAHSL Teaching/Learning Oversight Committee (formerly known as the GEA Task Force) will expand its activities this year through the appointment of two task forces. The first is the LiME/AAHSL Joint TF which will support librarians as they assume responsibility for the literature searching module in the AAMC’s Medical Education Research Certificate program and work to develop (with staff from AAHSL member libraries) self-paced, interactive, modules that teach, and most importantly assess competencies related to evidence-based search, retrieval and evaluation skills. The second task force is the Education Research TF charged to explore collaborative research that addresses priorities outlined in the IIME and GEA Reports. The Board has approved funding for a part-time (estimated 5 hours per week) program coordinator who will be recruited and in place by March. Look for announcements of Task Force appointments later this year.

TLOC member Terry Burton submitted a response to AMIA’s call for input on Applied Clinical Informatics Core Content as AMIA seeks to have clinical informatics approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties as a new subspecialty. AAHSL’s response included a strengthening of the role for evidence-based knowledge in clinical decision support. AMIA’s FAQ on this can be found at http://www.amia.org/inside/initiatives/rwj/faq.asp.

I have also asked this Committee to craft a response to the recent call by the new editor of Academic Medicine for readers to contribute their thoughts on the “grand challenges” in academic medicine today. I also encourage you as individual AAHSL members to consider submitting your ideas to the journal. To read Dr. Kanter’s editorial, visit the journal’s web site at http://www.academicmedicine.org.

A Year of E-Science Programming

Barbara Epstein and Linda Walton have agreed to be co-chairs of AAHSL’s Program and Education Committee, and will work with Neil Rambo from ARL and the University of Washington to develop a series of events and opportunities in the months leading up to our annual meeting program in November. The concept is for us to engage in conversation and learn more about e-science and related translational research infrastructures such as CTSA, and how our libraries can and should be involved. Committee members include Marianne Comegys, Tom Basler, Dottie Spencer and Jacque Doyle. Highly recommended reading to get you all thinking about this is the ARL E-Science report at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/ARL_EScience_final.pdf.

Matheson-Cooper Report Anniversary: I hope you have had a chance to take a look at the anniversary site on our AAHSL website ( http://www.aahsl.org/Matheson/index.cfm). I have invited testimonials from NLM, MLA, AMIA, AAMC, and the IAIMS Consortium to add to the site. We’ll be providing a way for individuals to contribute their thoughts as well, so stay tuned.

Advocacy:

As you know, Science has reconsidered its decision to withdraw from JSTOR. I received a letter from Alan Leshner, CEO and Executive Publisher of Science, thanking us for sharing our views with them in our November, and notifying me of this decision.

On January 30th, Pat Thibodeau and I will be attending a meeting hosted by ARL in Washington to discuss the implementation issues and strategies surrounding the newly mandated NIH Public Access Policy. We’ll report back to you after the meeting.

In the January issue of JMLA, Sheldon Kotzin and Becky Lyon of NLM’s Library Operations Division mention their support of AAHSL’s Leadership Fellows program as part of their tradition of supporting training for librarians and information specialists. They note, “With many graduates moving into director positions, the program is rapidly showing dividends for our investment.”

Innovation Award Nominations: The Innovation Award is given to honor and acknowledge an AAHSL member library demonstrating innovative programs, products, services or projects in support of an area of knowledge management outlined in Building on Success: Charting the Future of Knowledge Management in the Academic Health Center. AAHSL libraries are encouraged to apply for the award or nominate another AAHSL library. Deadline for submission is April 30, 2008. Award criteria and the application/nomination form can be found at: http://www.aahsl.org/Applications_Awards_Scholarships/Innovation_Award_Fall_2008.pdf.

Cornerstone Award Nominations: A reminder about our Cornerstone Award. The deadline for submittal of nominations is April 30, 2008. For details about criteria and how to submit a nomination, see http://www.aahsl.org/Applications_Awards_Scholarships/cornerstone.cfm .

Miscellaneous

The Blue Ridge Academic Health Group has produced the 11th in their series of reports recommending actions for academic health centers to “create greater value for society.” All the reports can now be downloaded from their website: http://www.blueridgegroup.org/. Report #7 “Reforming Medical Education” might be of particular interest.