National Network of Libraries of Medicine

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Profile of the Idaho Health Sciences Library

Terry Wiggins, Director, Idaho Health Sciences Library

It�s understandable if you don�t have a picture of the current status of Idaho medical libraries. You may have heard about closings, or openings . . . Hey, what's going on there?

Two years ago, both hospitals in Pocatello, Idaho -- Bannock Regional Medical Center and Pocatello Regional Medical Center -- had their own libraries and were active members of the network. Then the hospitals contracted with Idaho State University (ISU) College of Pharmacy to provide them library services; the service was called the Idaho Health Sciences Information Center (IHSIC) and incorporated the Idaho Drug Information Service. In 1992 the hospitals and the University signed a new contract turning responsibility over to the ISU Oboler Library to create the Idaho Health Sciences Library (IHSL).

So what�s the Idaho Health Sciences Library like? What does it have?

Before discussing the IHSL, it needs to be mentioned that Idaho State University is located within a mile of each hospital. ISU is officially designated as Idaho�s center for education in the health professions. Given this role, it has

a College of Health Professions with departments of Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Health and Nutrition Sciences, Health Care Administration, Dental Education (first year dental school; the students go on to Creighton U. in Omaha), Physical Therapy, Radiographic Science, Speech Pathology-Audiology, and the Institute of Rural Health Studies;
a College of Pharmacy; and
health-related programs in other schools:
- The School of Applied Technology has practical nursing, medical records technician, medical secretary, administrative medical assistant, and medical transcriptionist programs.
- The College of Education has counselor education, school psychology, and health education programs.
- The College of Arts and Sciences has health physics, pre-health professional programs, and social work.

A number of programs are in various stages of the proposal and implementation process: nurse practitioner, clinical psychology, physician assistant, public health, pharmacy technician, clinical medical assistant, and even a medical school.

ISU has one library building, the Eli M. Oboler Library; the IHSL moved in May, 1993 to a renovated area on the third floor of the Oboler Library. The IHSL facility is used mostly by campus personnel.

The Idaho Health Sciences Library, known to some of you as 83209B, contains:

Health sciences reference books and indexes,
Several public-access computers for database searching,
Staff offices,
An almost-empty classroom (A grant proposal has been submitted to furnish and equip the classroom for bibliographic instruction, including electronic sources.),
Study space for up to 64 people, and
The Idaho Drug Information Service.

The IHSL is adjacent to the Health Sciences Periodicals, a collection of over 500 current titles managed by the Periodicals Department. [Editor�s note: These titls are in the SERLINE database, with the location designation 06ISL.] The Interlibrary Loan Department (Nancy Anthony, head; libid 83209A) handles all incoming requests for those periodicals, and borrows all the materials for the University faculty and students. The IHSL SERHOLD holdings consist of the Reference serials located within the IHSL; the IHSL borrows materials on behalf of its physician and hospital staff constituencies.

The Idaho Drug Information Service (IDIS), operated by the College of Pharmacy, was located at Pocatello Regional Medical Center until two years ago, when it was relocated to the Oboler Library. Jan Beckwith, Pharm.D., acting as director of the IDIS, answers drug information questions and also teaches in the College of Pharmacy.

Who staffs the health sciences library?

Terry Wiggins, with experience at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, and Princeton University, was hired as Director in September, 1992.
Nancy Griffin, ISU's Life/Health Sciences Librarian since 1990, transferred to IHSL, adding the title of Assistant Director - Instruction.
Marcia Francis, a member of the Periodicals Department staff, became the Library Assistant for the IHSL in January 1993.

So what has the health sciences library been doing?

The IHSL staff developed policies and practices for serving its university and hospital patrons and other health science libraries in Idaho. These services include: database searches (about 500 a year), document delivery and interlibrary loan (over 500 a month), bibliographic instruction, routing journals to the doctors� lounge at the hospital, and daily courier service to the hospitals.

The services to other health sciences libraries in Idaho form part of the foundation that was developed for the outreach program. The IHSL established itself as a DOCLINE library, as a member of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and as a partner in reciprocal agreements with other Idaho health libraries. Other outreach-related activities included the provision of information services to area hospitals and health providers, establishment of the Loansome Doc service, and development of printed materials for education and outreach.

What else do you want to know?

Call, write, or send an e-mail message to:

Terry Wiggins, Director <wiggterr@isu.edu>
Nancy Griffin, Assistant Director <grifnanc@isu.edu>
Marcia Francis, Library Assistant <franmarc@isu.edu>

Idaho Health Sciences Library
Campus Box 8089
Idaho State University
Pocatello, Idaho 83209-8089

Editor�s note: From time to time the Supplement spotlights a particular library or library service. If you have suggestions for a future issue, please contact the RML.

Supplement, January 1994 -- Vol. 25, Number 1

NN/LM PNR | nnlm@u.washington.edu | Revised: August 11, 1995

National Network of Libraries of Medicine

nnlm.gov

Profile of the Idaho Health Sciences Library

Terry Wiggins, Director, Idaho Health Sciences Library

URL: http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/pnr/supp/9401/wiggins.html