The Health Information Center (HIC): A New Consumer Health Information Service

Long before the construction of the new building, the Library received questions from the general public about health. The Library staff used the resources available at that time to answer these requests.

Creative Response to a Need

As the new Library was being planned, the opportunity ripened to respond more effectively to the growing demand for consumer health information. The intention of then Library Director Suzanne Murray was to provide a special area in the new Library for a consumer health information service. As this space was being designed, the Health Science Center formed a multidisciplinary steering committee to address various issues of how to provide consumer health information. This committee consisted of physicians, nurses, allied health personnel, and librarians: Sharon Kitchie, M.S., R.N.C.S. (Chair); Sue Bastable, Ph.D., R.N.; James Capodagli; Leah Caldwell; Cynthia Geremski, M.P.A.; David Heisig, M.D.; Anne Kincella; Christine Kucharski; Patricia Onsi; Mary Ellen Rook, B.S., R.N.; Ann Sedore, Ph.D., R.N.; Chris Sheridan, L.P.N.; John Sipple, M.D.; and Carl Wiezalis.

The Library received input regarding policies, potential problems, how to obtain information from focus groups, marketing, and what types of resources to purchase. The result was a unique working relationship of people from varied backgrounds which helped to enrich the quality of discussions.

The new Library and the HIC both opened on December 23, 1995, with the official dedication on April 11, 1996.

Location, Dimensions, and Atmosphere

The HIC is located on the main floor of the Library, just off the "Hall of Fame," between the elevators and the Current Periodicals Room. Visitors to the HIC are greeted by about 1200 square feet of space, shelving for about 5000 resource items, comfortable seating, and a pleasant, friendly environment, with photographs by a former President of the HSC, paintings by a retired professor, and several potted plants. The HIC is accessible to the physically impaired, and has a device which enlarges hard copy text for the visually impaired.

Staffing

The Head of the HIC is a Reference librarian, James Capodagli. Jim is backed up by the entire Reference staff. Sharon Kitchie, Patient Education Coordinator for the HSC, serves as Nurse Educator. Sharon explains technical terminology and procedures to patients and visitors, follows up questions many consumers have about their illnesses, produces patient education materials, makes recommendations for purchasing new resources, and serves as liaison to the hospital staff for patient education needs.

Volunteers

Volunteers carry out various duties. For example, they ask health organizations for pamphlets or newsletters, organize these materials in the vertical file, and check the online catalog for books before the Library makes new purchases. One of the volunteers helped with an early mailing of over 800 brochures describing HIC services in a timely way to over 60 public and academic libraries in the region. Currently, a volunteer is developing a database management system for the vertical file and ephemeral resources. As the HIC grows in resources and requests, other volunteer work will certainly be needed.

Resources

Though there is shelf space for several thousand items, so far about 950 books and 75 videos have been cataloged. About 25 books and videos are added each month. To help supplement the funds needed for continuing purchases, the HIC will apply for grants. Since the layperson is the primary audience for these materials, most of the resources in the HIC are written or produced at a level or in a style that is less technical than resources for the health professional. Books and videos may be borrowed by the general public and health professionals alike.

The HIC receives several popular newsletters and magazines, such as The Johns Hopkins Medical Letter, Health After 50, Mayo Clinic Health Letter, FDA Consumer, the newly purchased Well Connected, and three newsletters from the Harvard Health Series. Video series include Body Atlas, Encyclopedia Of Psychoactive Drugs, Voices From the Front, and The Schlessinger Teens Health Series. Over 25 CD-ROM titles, such as The Home Medical Advisor Pro, include graphics, video clips, and interactive multimedia information about the heart, breast cancer, normal anatomy, and other topics.

Computer Connections

Popular and technical literature can be searched through Health Reference Center, a computer database specifically designed for consumer health information and containing many full-text articles written for non-professionals. If the required information is not found there, MEDLINE, the premier database in the medical field, may be consulted. The resources of the entire Library can be used to answer more difficult questions.

Web Access

No Library would be complete in the 1990s without access to the World Wide Web. The Web is an important tool for the HIC staff when responding to consumer health questions. Many national medical organizations, foundations, support organizations, publishers, and other groups have valuable, current information available on the Web. The HIC has already made considerable use of these resources and expects that trend to continue. A public access workstation connected to the Internet is available immediately as you enter the HIC. The staff is happy to assist anyone new at “surfing” the Web.

Gifts

Thanks to donations from the Auxiliary of University Hospital, a variety of instructional anatomical and disease models have been purchased. Subjects of these models include the heart, angioplasty, breast and testicular cancer, home infusion, tracheotomy, ostomy, etc. These models may be used either by nurses to instruct patients on home use of certain devices or by the patients themselves.

[IMAGE] Some of the instructional models available in the HIC.

Generous donations have also been made by the Amputee Support Network (ASN), which needed a facility for its many resources, including videos, books, newsletters, and pamphlets produced for amputees or rehabilitation professionals.

Experiences

Many of our patrons live at a distance or are physically unable to visit the HIC in person. Thus many of our requests are received by telephone from the surrounding 17-county region. For these callers, information is mailed, FAXed, or sent electronically, with follow-up phone calls to verify that the information is clear.

The HIC receives about 60 requests for information each month, not counting those visitors who are more independent and find information on their own. The Library circulation records show that about 40-50 items per month are checked out of the HIC. As the services of the HIC become better known, the staff hopes to serve the needs of even more people in the region.

Publicity

With help from the HSC Marketing Department, the HIC is actively promoting its services. It exhibited in the Hall of Health at the 1996 New York State Fair (four 12-hour days with valuable assistance from the Reference staff and the Library Director) and at a women's health conference at the Carousel Center. Media exposure has included broadcasts by two local television stations, as well as radio interviews given on dedication day, at the State Fair, and in December 1996. Separate Web pages featuring the HIC are under construction to publicize HIC resources, new acquisitions, and full-text patient education resources produced by SUNY HSC staff. An HIC newsletter is also anticipated.

Disclaimer

The policy and objective of the HIC is to provide information only. By law, medical advice on diagnosis, treatment, etc. can only be given by physicians or other licensed health care professionals, not by librarians. Nor can the HIC offer opinions on specific health care personnel. A disclaimer approved by the SUNY HSC Counsel's Office and stamped on all document distributed by HIC staff states this clearly.

Contact

If you have further questions about the HIC, or have an information request: Phone 315-464-4410, FAX 315-464-7199, or e-mail hic@vax.cs.hscsyr.edu.

James A. Capodagli
Head of the Health Information Center

In Memoriam

Sharon Quist

May 12, 1948 - January 18, 1997

The library community throughout Central New York lost a tireless and learned colleague, an inspirational presence, and a dear friend when Sharon Quist died in London, England, while visiting friends with her sons, Michael and Rob. Throughout her long battle against breast cancer she remained optimistic and heroic, refusing to let the disease kill her spirit even as it was killing her body. She never complained. Her constant cheerfulness in the face of a level of suffering which would have defeated many of us had a positive impact on everyone she met.

Sharon joined CLRC (then CENTRO) in 1988 as Circuit Rider Medical Librarian under the New York State Hospital Library Services Program, providing reference, interlibrary loan, and other library services to hospitals without their own librarians. Earlier she had been a librarian at St. Luke's Memorial Hospital in Utica, and a reference assistant at Burke Library, Hamilton College. She was an MLS graduate of SUNY Albany. In 1989, the Medical Circuit Program was contracted to SUNY Health Science Center and Sharon became a SUNY Foundation employee. She continued to serve Community Memorial Hospital (Hamilton), Little Falls Hospital, Oneida Healthcare Center, and Rome City Hospital with weekly visits, database searching, ILL, and consulting on library services.

Sharon had a longstanding interest, both personal and professional, in consumer health information. Her revision of the Medical Library Association's Continuing Education Course on Consumer Health Information was approved in 1994. She taught this course throughout the country. She was an excellent public speaker and always answered questions in a forthright and helpful way. She was a strong advocate of making enough health care information readily available to patients and families to enable them to make informed decisions about their health and illnesses.

Memorial services were held in the HSC chapel on January 28 and in the Hamilton College chapel on February 15. The larger of the two, at Hamilton, was a wonderful and extremely personal tribute to Sharon. At least 100 people attended, both family and friends. In the entrance to the chapel were many pictures of Sharon on display and a guest book. After the congregation sang "How Great Thou Art," anyone who wished was invited to stand up and speak. One spoke about their close friendship, another read aloud a letter she had written to Sharon, another recounted a dream that she had had about Sharon, another read a letter that Sharon's friends in London had sent about her last visit, two of her cousins talked about their childhood memories of her. The same themes came out over and over from all these people, that Sharon's sense of humor never left her, that she had an enviable enthusiasm and zest for life, even during her darkest times, and that she had compassion and remarkable courage and determination. After this, the minister, who apparently knew her well, spoke about Sharon having a special kind of grace and knowing some secrets about how to live and how to change forever many of the people who met her. The service ended with a solo bass guitarist playing "Amazing Grace," which Sharon herself had chosen for this event. It started out slowly with very simple chords and progressed into something spirited and richly textured. It was as upbeat as Sharon herself.

The Library Has a New Home Page

In addition to information about the Library, many Library services are directly available through this home page. The URL is: http://www.hscsyr.edu/library/index.html.

Journal Cancellations

Even though the present acquisitions budget cannot absorb price increases of this magnitude, the Library remains committed to the careful scrutiny of all cancellations, with input from the entire HSC community, so as to minimize the negative impact on patient care, research, and teaching. The Library also continues to seek gift subscriptions and new sources of acquisitions funding to supplement its modest SUNY budget increase.

Among the journals the Library has been forced to cancel in fiscal year 1996/1997 are: Bone, Clinica Chimica Acta, Dermatology: International Journal of Dermatology, European Archives of Otorhinolaryngology, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Guide to Microforms in Print, Index to Dental Literature, Index to Health Information, International Archives of Occupational Medicine, International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, Journal of Virological Methods, Leukemia Research, Monthly Index of Medical Specialties, Nuclear Medicine Communications, and Zentralblatt fuer Bakteriologie.

Despite this bad news, the Library has managed to add a few new subscriptions, some by gift, some by purchase. Among them are: Canadian Family Physician, Evidence Based Medicine, Journal of Case Management, Radiation Therapist, Radiologic Technology, and Surgical Endoscopy. Yet economic reality remains. The average cost of the cancelled journals is over $1000/year, but the average cost of the added journals is under $100/year.

Patricia W. Onsi
Interim Director

If, after looking in these places, you are still unable to locate your item, please come to the Reference Desk and we will help you to determine whether the item is temporarily out of the building being bound.

Rosemarie P. Bundy
Reference Services

How to Cite Sources from Cyberspace

The following examples follow the style suggested by Andrew Harnack and Gene Kleppinger in "Beyond the MLA Handbook: Documenting Electronic Sources on the Internet" 25 Nov. 1996 <http://www.csc.eku.edu/honors/beyond-mla> (17 Dec. 1996). Their models are clear, uncluttered, and particularly complete for Internet sources. Note that at the end of each example, in parentheses, is the date of access. When known, date of publication or last revision is given after the title.

Worldwide Web

"Adult Hodgkin's Disease." PDQ, Treatment: Health Professionals. Dec 1996. <http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov/clinpdq/soa/Adult_Hodgkin's_disease_Physician.html> (18 Dec. 1996).
"Update: Fatal Air Bag-Related Injuries to Children - United States, 1993-1996." MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 45 (49) 13 Dec. 1996. <http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr-wk.html> (18 Dec. 1996).

Listserv Message

Ellis, Jo Anne C. <ellis@clrc.org> "December Internet Training." 12 Dec. 1996. <cnylib-l@listserv.syr.edu> (17 Dec. 1996).

Newsgroup (Usenet) Message

Slade, Robert. <res@maths.bath.ac.uk> "UNIX Made Easy." 26 Mar. 1996. <alt.books.reviews> (31 Mar. 1996).

Personal E-Mail Message

Larrivee, Gordon. <gordon.larrivee@banyan.ummed.edu> "RE: Problem Posting." 12 Jul. 1996. Personal e-mail. (13 Jul. 1996).

Many scientific publishers favor APA style. Its latest print edition was published in 1994, but the update by T. Land in "Web Extension to American Psychological Association Style (WEAPAS): Proposed Standard for Referencing Online Documents in Scientific Publications" Revision 1.4. 25 Nov. 1996 <http://www.beadsland.com/weapas/> (18 Dec. 1996), deals with electronic sources, and also gives annotations and links to other electronically published guidelines.

Diane K. Hawkins
James A. Capodagli
Reference Services

"Weaving the Web" starts in this issue of The Synapse as a regular feature. It will endeavor to point you in the right direction, to give you confidence searching the Internet via GUIs, to provide useful addresses for specific sites (URLs), and to offer tips on locating information efficiently.

Browsers are software tools which allow access to resources on the World Wide Web. The Web is the hypertext interface to the Internet. Hypertext is a system of software links among electronic documents which allows the inclusion of graphics, sound, interactive video, etc., and facilitates rapid switching between documents.

Some browsers are only text-based. These permit the quick switching, but cannot link the text with graphics, sound, etc. An example of a text-based World Wide Web browser is Lynx. The HSC VAX lists Lynx on its menu of choices. GUI software allows the inclusion of these other formats. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer are examples of popular GUIs.

Whether using a text-based browser or a GUI, you still need a search engine. Search engines are tools to aid you in navigating the Internet. They send your queries into cyberspace. Because of the vast number (millions) of Web sites and because of the rate at which they are profilerating, it is unlikely that one engine could cover them all. Thus it is advisable to become familiar with several search engines.

The next installment will discuss several prominent search engines.

Bette Jean Ingui
Reference Services

Cataloging Assistant Sarah M. Whaley has served the longest: 33 years. She joined the Technical Services Department of the Library in April 1964 as a typist and eventually assumed greater responsibilities, which now include searching databases to find cataloging records, maintaining the shelf list, and updating and correcting the multiLIS online catalog.

Alice Ottman has served as Collection Development Assistant since June 1965, giving the benefit of her extensive experience in this area to no fewer than seven Collection Development Librarians. Alice's eye for details and her talent with budgets and spreadsheets are legendary in the Library.

Head of Access Services Peter A. Uva began in August 1966 as a page, becoming a reference librarian in 1976, and Head of Public Services in 1985. He is a graduate of Le Moyne College, has an M.A. in history from Fordham University, and did further graduate study in history while completing his M.L.S. at Syracuse University.

Patricia W. Onsi was hired in September 1966 as Senior Subject Analyst for the SUNY Biomedical Communications Network. Since then Pat has served as Head of Technical Services, Systems Librarian, Associate Director, and, since September 1995, as Interim Library Director. According to Pat, a highlight of her career was implementing the Library's move in December 1996 to its new home in the Weiskotten Hall addition.

Serials Supervisor Pat Bodah has worked in the Library since November 1966, serving in the Circulation, Interlibrary Loan, and Serials departments. Pat's primary responsibilities are tracking the receipt of journal issues, maintaining the Current Periodicals Room, and preparing and receiving bindery shipments.

The newest employee of the group is Cataloging Assistant Augusta M. Knox. In 1967 she arrived in Syracuse to visit family, expecting to stay only six months and then return to her native Middletown, Ohio. During that visit, in May 1967, she took what she intended as a short-term job -- but she has been here ever since. She is respected especially for her accuracy and thoroughness.

Over 185 years worth of experience. Honorees (L to R) Sarah Whaley, Peter Uva, Alice Ottman, Pat Bodah, Pat Onsi, and Augusta Knox pose with the Library's recently acquired portrait photograph of Irwin Pizer, who was Library Director when they were hired.

Diane K. Hawkins
Head of Reference Services

The Library is pleased to announce that a graphical World Wide Web interface has been installed as a gateway to Ovid databases. Local access to Ovid Web Gateway has been activated for users affiliated with the Health Science Center. This new gateway is a major advance over other Web products because it "maintains state," that is, it keeps track of search histories in such a way that users are able to manipulate previous search sets at will -- and to their advantage.

Included in this version of Ovid are:

MEDLINE (from 1966 to the present).
Current Contents/Life Sciences (from one year ago to the current week)
Ovid Full Text - Core Biomedical Collection (1993 - 1996)

One great advantage over previous MEDLINE interfaces is that users now have the choice between either searching the entire MEDLINE database at once or searching it in 5-year segments.

Ovid Full Text is a new addition to the Library's list of databases. It includes the full texts of articles from 15 core medical journals. Every word of every text is searchable, including references and even graphics captions. The Ovid Web Gateway interface shows all graphics, tables, and photographs as they appear in the print versions of these journals. Articles can be selected and either (1) printed from your browser, (2) e-mailed, or (3) saved directly to the local hard drive for later printing.

The Ovid Core Biomedical Collection includes:

American Journal of Medicine
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
American Journal of Surgery
Annals of Internal Medicine
Archives of General Psychiatry
British Medical Journal
Canadian Medical Association Journal
Circulation
Journal of the American Medical Association
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
Journal of Clinical Investigation
The Lancet
New England Journal of Medicine
Pediatrics
Science

Anyone who uses a non-commercial GUI rather than text-based World Wide Web browser (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer, or Mosaic) can access the Library's Ovid Web Gateway. Access to the Ovid databases for HSC personnel is available either by logging onto the Library home page and selecting "MEDLINE Web Access" or by directly using the URL: http://gateway.ovid.com/autologin.html. The first screen you see from the direct link has a disclaimer and a "Continue" button which you can select to go straight to the databases. No username or password is required, but use of the Ovid Web Gateway installation is restricted to students, faculty, and staff of the Health Science Center. It is available only from the hscsyr.edu (139.127.xxx.xxx) domain. Attempts made to connect to it from any computer outside this domain will be rejected.

Remember to logoff after each session on Ovid Web Gateway by pressing the logoff button in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

For further information please call the Library Reference Desk at 464-4581.

Ovid Technologies, Inc. is named after the Roman poet who wrote Metamorphoses, which means "changes." Indeed, biomedical information technology is changing very rapidly -- and for the better. The Library does its best to keep up with it.

Peter A. Uva
Head of Access Services