Back in 2008, the authors were looking for a tool that would replace the library's Outlook folders and much of what the library had stored on shared network drives. So they were mainly looking for something that would hold their documents, allow them to better organize those documents, offer an easy way to search for those documents, and be easy…

This paper takes a look at how one academic health sciences librarian brought mediated literature searching to the distance RN to BSN nursing students. It takes a look at why Adobe Connect was the webinar software that was selected to deliver online instruction to the students. The article explains how students participated in a pre-class survey…

This article details the process of upgrading and expanding an existing academic medical library intranet to include a wiki, blog, discussion forum, and photo collection manager. The first version of the library's intranet from early 2002 was powered by ColdFusion software and existed primarily to allow staff members to author and store minutes of…

In this article, the authors relate how they developed a software that provides solutions to their library system needs. The authors work at the Galter Health Sciences Library of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, located in downtown Chicago. The library serves the medical school's faculty, staff, residents, students, and…

Smart librarians have always valued their relationships with users and other librarians. The creative force of those relationships is empowered via Web-based social networking, collaboration, and sharing. At Stony Brook University Health Sciences Library in New York, students, faculty, clinicians, and residents expect the latest refinements in…

As head of information technology at the Prior Health Sciences Library, Eric Schnell likes to improve products that don't fully meet his library's purposes. His first major software product, the award-winning Prospero Electronic Delivery Project, is a web-based document delivery system designed to complement Ariel[R] by converting documents to a…

Describes BIBTOOLS, a system of programs for microcomputers that accomplish many of the manual tasks involved in compiling bibliographies. Highlights of the system, which is designed for use with medical databases, include input and output functions, combining the software with online literature searches, parsing, and programs that function as…

Returning registered nurses face an uphill challenge when re-entering their field. To help ease the technology shock for nurses who have been out of the field for more than 5 years, info pros in one medical library collaborated with administrators of a nursing education program to purchase Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and load them with…

Describes a project at the National Library of Medicine that investigated the development of an expert system to assist catalogers with personal name authority work. Topics include project planning; software and hardware selection; knowledge engineering; and reasons for discontinuing the development of the expert system. (three references) (LRW)

Describes use of microcomputers with system called "TBBS" ("The Bread Board System") at Loma Linda University Medical Center to allow users enhanced services from home, whether library facilities are open or not. Flexibility and security, dialing into medical library, and suggestions for setting up similar computerized…

Describes the implementation of an online catalog in the library of the National Institute for Cancer Research and the Clinical and Experimental Oncology Institute of the University of Genoa. Topics addressed include automation of various library functions, software features, database management, training, and user response. (10 references) (MES)

Describes the development of a local area network (LAN) at Loma Linda University that allows remote access for both IBM and Macintosh microcomputers to CD-ROMs. Topics discussed include types of networks; fiber optic technology; networking CD-ROM drives; remote access; modems; CD-ROM databases; memory management; interface software; and future…

Describes management decisions and resultant technology-based system that allowed a medical library to meet increasing workloads without accompanying increases in resources available. Discussion covers system analysis; capabilities of book-order management system, "BOOKDIRT;" software and training; hardware; data files; data entry;…

Library staff at Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport have written two computer programs automating much of its selective dissemination of information (SDI) postprocessing. The software sorts SDI results, gathers and reports statistical data without requiring manual data entry, allows delivery of search results as hard copy or…

Compares the use of a telefacsimile network and the Internet-based software, Ariel, for interlibrary loan document delivery in the Health Sciences Libraries Consortium. Topics discussed include document processing efficiency, impact of the Ariel workstations on interlibrary loan procedures, interlibrary loan policies, and possible prototype…