From arleenl@iea.com Thu May 8 14:59:38 1997
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 18:05:02 GMT
From: Arleen Libertini
Reply-To: hlib-nw@u.washington.edu
To: Health Library NW List
Subject: NW Notes Oct-Dec 1996 part 2 of 4
Here are pages 3-4 of the Oct-Dec 1996 issue of NW Notes.
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PAGE 3 Northwest Notes/October-December 1996
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PNC/MLA Automation and Technology Committee - 1996 Report
Submitted by Robin Braun, Acting Chair robinb@comtch.iea.com
This year the Automation and Technology Committee has been re-evaluating its
role. We feel that the Committee should be re-named the Electronic
Resources Committee, to better reflect our present focus. This
recommendation will be submitted to the Bylaws Committee for inclusion in
the 1996 revision. The Committee will be submitting questions on library
automation and electronic resources for inclusion in the PNC Compass survey
that is currently under development.
We are willing to serve in lieu of a proposed PNC Task Force to consider the
matter of electronic publishing within PNC. The first product for
consideration will be the PNC newsletter, Northwest Notes. It is possible
to load this now as a full-text document for general HLIB-NW distribution
or, eventually, as a Webber hotlink on the PNC homepage. One basic question
is how closely the HLIB subscription list matches PNC membership? Another
question is whether Northwest Notes is felt to be a primary benefit of PNC
membership and therefore should be restricted only to paid
and life PNC members? If members feel that only paid and life members
deserve the newsletter, a user code file can be created that would restrict
viewing and retrieval to current members. Electronic publishing should
result in a savings of $1,200 to PNC, based on 1996 newsletter printing and
postage charges. [Discussion at the Business Meeting revealed no objection
to trying a pilot project to publish Northwest Notes electronically via
HLIB. Therefore, the final 1996 issue will be distributed electronically,
pending the editor's approval.]
Members without E-mail access will receive a paper copy through the mail.
The Committee will identify those PNC members without E-mail access and try
to help them find funding to get basic PPP service. PNC will make
Collaborative Internet Access Grants available for this purpose.
There is also a question of archival procedures. Although UW server files
are automatically backed up and archived, we recommend that Janet Schnall,
the PNC Archivist, print off a clean paper copy of each issue for storage in
the PNC Archives.
Members of this Committee should assist with the PNC Homepage and serve on
their state's home page committee to facilitate links and minimize some of
the development work. Arleen Libertini will serve on the WMLA Homepage
Committee. Current committee members are: Robin Braun (Acting Chair),
Arleen Libertini, and Kim Granath. We need membership from each state
and province in the region. Please consider joining the Committee!
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Research Committee
Nancy Griffin grifnanc@isu.edu
Paula Palmer from the Health Sciences Library at UW reports that she is
working with a focus group to revise the library's web pages. This focus
group is made up of a variety of people with varied backgrounds. Surveying
them entirely by e-mail, she will then collate and post responses
for discussion.
I have been working with the Education Committee to prepare a survey
instrument. PNC/MLA wants to know about members' needs and whether or not
the association is now or should be answering those needs. Results of this
survey will be used in the association's strategic planning process.
The Executive Committee has agreed that the status of the Research Committee
should probably be changed from standing to ad-hoc. This will require a
formal change in the bylaws. Look for information regarding this process to
appear soon.
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HTML Word Processing Add-ons
Michael Boer boerm@u.washington.edu
Systems Coordinator NNLM/PNR
Are you ready to make a home page for your library? Do you have information
you want to publish on the Web?
Did you know that recent versions of the popular word processing programs
can be taught HTML as a second language?
By installing an add-on program, you can turn most word processing programs
into HTML editors. This is useful for converting existing word processor
files into HTML, as well as for creating new HTML files from scratch. This
kind of support is especially helpful if you need to create tables.
These add-ons also simplify the process of importing HTML files into other
programs. For example, you can take a table of data from a Web page, bring
it into your word processor as a table, then cut and paste it into a
spreadsheet file on your own computer to do your own statistical analysis.
To find out if an HTML add-on is available, visit the home page of your word
processing program's publisher. What you need may be hidden away, so you
may need to scan for words like "free," "download," "Internet tools," etc.
For example, I use Microsoft Word for Windows95. On the Microsoft home page
there is a link for "Download Free Software."
That link takes me to a long list of free stuff, including "Web Publishing
Tools." This is where I found "Word Internet Assistant." If I were a Word-
Perfect user, I'd start at the Corel home page and follow the links for
free stuff until I reach a page that lists "WordPerfect 6.1 Internet
Publisher" .
Once you've downloaded and installed the add-on, take a moment to read the
included help files -- some HTML features may work in ways you wouldn't
ordinarily expect. It's even possible that some HTML features are not
implemented at all. However, don't hesitate to try these tools. They
are pretty good for creating a first draft. You can always tweak your HTML
codes manually later to get the effects you want.
For an HTML author, there is simply no substitute for a thorough
understanding of basic HTML, but that doesn't mean you have to do all your
coding from scratch. With an HTML add-on, you can take advantage of what
you already know about your word processing program. (For more
information on HTML, see NN/LM's "Guide to NetInformation Resources"
.)
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PAGE 4 Northwest Notes/October-December 1996
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Around the Region
ALASKA
Kathy Murray is now at the University of Alaska, Anchorage managing the
Health Science Information Service "library." New e-mail address
IDAHO
Rand Simmons of the Idaho State Library is facilitator/ leader of the new
Idaho Information Technology Task Force. This group is exploring designing
an Idaho Library Website. It is planned
that this will provide all Idaho libraries with access to all Idaho library
catalogs. Rand also reports that the State Library has accepted the RML's
offer to become a Resource Library in the NN/LM PNR's new contract arrangement.
Madison Memorial Hospital is beginning the first of a two-stage construction
program. Kathy Nelson is serving as facilitator for the hospital marketing
team.
Judy Balcerzak, Library Director at St. Alphonsus in Boise, tells us that a
new library is in the works thanks to a substantial donation by the Kissler
family. It is expected to open in early 1997. The library is working with
Healthwise and will include its Knowledgebase program to increase
provision of medical and wellness information to consumers in southwest
Idaho. Web pages are being designed for the hospital's Intranet and an
electronic reference collection is being designed in cooperation with the
hospital's Information Resources department.
Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center is now Columbia Eastern Idaho Regional
Medical Center and can be found under that name on the web. In fact, the
hospital's home page is getting rave reviews. Coleen Winward, Medical
Librarian, says that this site allows access to regional
newspapers.
Five years ago Nola Higley presided over the establishment of a medical
library at Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls. Now the
facility is running out of space. Three new pentium computers were acquired
this year. A part-time employee was hired as library assistant
and, as part of her training, took an introductory library science course at
the nearby community college.
Pam Spickelmier, St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise, has been
assigned additional leadership responsiblities within the Human Resources
Division. She will now spend about 25% of her time outside of her duties as
Director of the medical library. Outreach activities include patient
education activities and a networked consumer health database in Nampa and
Meridian.
The Idaho Health Sciences Library continues to market its services in a
variety of ways. We have mounted a number of databases on our Infoshare
server. These could be accessed through the Internet. We will offer other
libraries access to these at a discount. Terry Wiggins, Director,
has exhibited at the Idaho Hospital Association annual meeting and the Idaho
Healthcare Conference at ISU. The Health Literature Access Project, which
offered health information services to primary care providers throughout the
state, has undergone revision. This project was
funded by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Since that agency has
not received the funding it expected from the federal government, we hope
the program will survive.
Joan Hust returned to Idaho from New York and is now head of the DeArmond
Consumer Health Library of Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene.
OREGON
The Planetree Health Resource Center is proud to announce its Website. The
site was written and developed by Michele Spatz with the help of her very
talented husband, Dan Spatz. The Resource Center page is part of
Mid-Columbia Medical Center's comprehensive Website. An information by
mail service is also launched on the Resource Center's web page. It is
called House Call (for those of you who have visited us, it makes perfect
sense, since we are located in a renovated Victorian home from the 1870's).
Please visit us at
The Planetree Health Resource Center is also planning to go live on Gorge
LINK in mid- December. Gorge LINK is a multi-type computerized network of
libraries in the Columbia River Gorge and was funded in part by an LSCA grant.
Online Northwest '97, the annual computerized information retrieval
conference, will be held on Friday, January 24, 1997 at the Oregon
Convention Center in Portland, OR. The conference is sponsored by the
Oregon State System of Higher Education's Interinstitutional Library
Council. Registration information was sent out in early November. If you
did not receive a registration brochure, you may contact Cari Olmstead at
Portland State University, 503/725-4815, or E-mail her at cari@ses.pdx.edu.
WASHINGTON
Southwest Washington Medical Center Library has hired a new part-time
library technician, Eugene Perkins. The automation project in cooperation
with Fort Vancouver Regional Library System, Clark College, and Camas Public
Library is progressing well. Retrospective conversion should begin in
December or January, with automation of the circulation system following
closely. The vendor is Dynix. This will open holdings up to anyone in
Clark, Klickitat, or Skamania counties!
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New PNC Members
Please welcome:
Laurel Egan Joanne Osborne Marianne Farr
St. James Hospital Vernon Jubilee Hospital St. Patrick Hospital
Butte, MT Vernon, British Columbia Missoula, MT
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Arleen Libertini, MLS arleenl@iea.com
Health Information Center, Empire Health Services
800 W. 5th Ave. P.O. Box 248
Spokane, WA 99210-0248
(509) 458-7343 FAX (509) 458-7790