I came across an article describing a recent study done at the University of Michigan Cancer Center. The study looked at the information that patients were able to find on their own compared with what they found with a librarian's help: 95 percent of the 513 Patient Education Center's visitors who participated indicated that they found new information with a librarian's help. "For 65 percent of visitors, the professional search returned information they had not obtained from other sources, and an additional 30 percent said the librarian provided some new information. Only 4 percent of users said they found all the same information on their own." Finding information about a health issue can be lifesaving, so this survey says something important about the role of information professionals in a world where everyone assumes that a Google or Wikipedia search is all they need.

While the librarians at Villa Julie don't often have to help with life or death questions, we are helping to educate healthcare professionals as well as paralegals, fledgling business professionals, and other participants in our society, our economy, and our environment. Part of what we are trying to help them learn is how to navigate the world of information, and how a trained librarian can help them to efficiently find the best resources.

Reference Librarians spend a lot of time every day of the week working with subscription databases, search engines, reference materials, and more kinds of information than can be listed here. Researching facts and finding needles in haystacks is what we do best because we are doing it constantly. The library staff behind the scenes (i.e. in the Workroom) are also constantly interacting with information resources to figure out which ones best support the curriculum here, and how to best organize and make them available so they can be found.

So, the next time you have an information need that you suspect may require more skill than typing a few search terms into Google, stop by the big blue "Ask Me" sign in the library and do just that! It's why we're here! And we love a challenge!

Local Librarian-Author wins Newbery Award

I just learned that Laura Amy Schlitz, a librarian-author currently working at the Park School, has won the highest award for children's literature, the Newbery Award. Chris Flax stopped by the library and asked for the book, called Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village. We are ordering the book, but interested readers can request a copy in the SHARC Catalog if you can't wait until Chris reads it.

I write about this for two reasons: one, I am really pleased to have faculty who are engaged by books and reading and will take the time to recommend books for the collection. Kudos to Chris and the other faculty who do this often. Secondly, isn't it terrific that we have such talent in the Baltimore area, and that Laura is a librarian?

The Newbery is a prestigous international award that was established in 1921 by Frederic Melcher of the American Library Association. The purpose of the medal was "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."

That's one of the things that makes libraries and librarians unique: reading and books. While we are techno-savvy and more than willing to employ technology as a tool, really our mission is to encourage the acquisition of knowledge, and to do that, we must encourage reading. If there are any faculty out there who are interested in discussing ways to encourage reading on this campus, please drop by to chat. One of the ways the library staff does this is by sponsoring the J.R. Mitchell Book Talk series, so please come even if you haven't read the book being discussed: perhaps you'll be inspired.

I'll close this post by recommending a wonderful article about the value of reading and how it literally changes one's way of thinking in the New Yorker magazine. (TWILIGHT OF THE BOOKS. By: Crain, Caleb. New Yorker, 12/24/2007) A fascinating summary of the research that has been done on reading as a cognitive skill, you'll learn something new if you read it, I promise. And here is an invitation: do come and browse the New Books section if you want to stimulate your brain! We would love to have you.

And we're off....

The semester is back in full swing and it feels as though we were never away! That's a good thing, though.

The next Faculty Library Advisory Committee meeting has been scheduled, with the agenda centering on the costs of creating digital collections, as well as plans for the planned student study. (See minutes from the November meeting here. ) We hope the anthropology study will be underway in Fall 2008 semester and that the results will help us to plan the renovation. By the way, Library staff were thrilled to see a library renovation on the list of projects at the Faculty-Staff meeting last week.

We will soon begin our Faculty Workshop series. A new session has been added to the tried and true offerings on database searching and copyright, among other things: Steve Rouzer will talk about the selection process and entertain questions about how it's done. Specific dates are:

Research While You Sleep Tues 2/5 9:30-10:30 (Virginia Polley)

Database Basics Thurs 2/7 12:15-1:15 (Sandy Marinaro)

Intro to the Library for New Faculty Tues 2/12 12:15-1:15 (Maureen Beck)

Building Library Collections for Faculty Thurs 2/14 12:15-1:15 (Steve Rouzer)

Keeping Up with Web 2.0. What It Is-Why It Matters-Where It's Going Wed 2/20 12:15-1:15 (Sue Bonsteel)

Practical Copyright For Faculty Wed 4/9 12:15-1:15 (Sue Bonsteel)

Welcome back!

After a really wonderful break, it's time to knuckle down to work again. Library staff accomplished much in the Fall semester: we got a great start on re-envisioning the Stevenson Library courtesy of Steve Bell, who spent a day with us (I am still digesting his report!). We also received a full-fledged Preservation report on our Archival collection from CCAHA in Philadelphia, thanks to Kim Andrews. Several library staff have been working on the Middle States self study document. Thanks to our dedicated Faculty Library Advisory Committee, ably chaired this year by Chris Reed of the Film, Video and Theater Department, we have begin productive conversations about the strategic direction of the Library. (Pssst...if you can, be sure to attend Chris's planned Booktalk on the work Story: Substance, Structure and Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee, rescheduled for January 31 at 3 PM in the Library. I'm intrigued by the book and interested in his take on it).

The Spring Semester will bring a new face to the staff: Maurice Champagne will join us temporarily while our Evening Supervisor, Adam Mecinski, is on leave. Maurice has worked in several libraries, and is preparing to defend his dissertation at UMCP in April. Please join us in making him feel at home. His first day here will be January 9th.

Library staff will be attending the Faculty - Staff meeting on January 10th, so we'll see you there! Happy New Year!