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Beginning in July 2002, the Health Sciences Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill underwent an 11 million dollar renovation. During three phases of the renovation, parts of the collection were inaccessible to patrons. In order to continue to make the library's collection available, library staff created a paging system. Patrons submitted requests for needed library materials using paper and electronic forms and library staff retrieved the requested items. The paging service was modified three times based on prior experience. Patrons were generally satisfied with the service. The renovation ended in December 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about a workshop which was sponsored by the North Carolina Collection at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, to familiarize middle school teachers with the Eastern Carolina Digital History Exhibits and provide lesson plans for the site. Academic librarians are actively digitizing their unique historical records, and, like other digitizers, have always recognized the K-12 community as natural and immediate users of their sites. Digitizers know the value of their materials and believe that they will benefit the classroom. The workshop revealed the need for teachers and librarians to work more closely together in the design and use of new digital history resources. It also revealed the benefits of cooperative efforts.

This article describes the events that led to the implementation of the Ask-A-Librarian button within the hospital's electronic medical record. Various marketing techniques used to educate health care professionals regarding the new service, as well as the significant increase in library usage results, are discussed. This article also provides insight as to why the librarians undertook such an ambitious project, and it is the authors' hope that it will inspire others to do the same at their institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scavenger hunts are an effective, fun way of orienting new students to the library. The low-tech nature and small scale of the scavenger hunt program described here might be more suitable for health sciences libraries than other models, particularly for libraries with small staffs. This model also includes a unique optional element useful for library marketing. This article describes the methods used, shares reactions of program participants, and provides suggestions for those considering orienting students in this way. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article describes the events that led to the implementation of the Ask-A-Librarian button within the hospital’s electronic medical record. Various marketing techniques used to educate healthcare professionals regarding the new service as well as the significant increase in library usage results are discussed. This article also provides insight as to why the librarians undertook such an ambitious project. It is the authors’ hope that it will inspire others to do the same at their institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: Clinical and research usefulness of articles can depend on image quality. This study addressed whether scans of figures in black and white (B&W), grayscale, or color, or portable document format (PDF) to tagged image file format (TIFF) conversions as provided by interlibrary loan or document delivery were viewed as acceptable or useful by radiologists or pathologists. Methods: Residency coordinators selected eighteen figures from studies from radiology, clinical pathology, and anatomic pathology journals. With original PDF controls, each figure was prepared in three or four experimental conditions: PDF conversion to TIFF, and scans from print in B&W, grayscale, and color. Twelve independent observers indicated whether they could identify the features and whether the image quality was acceptable. They also ranked all the experimental conditions of each figure in terms of usefulness. Results: Of 982 assessments of 87 anatomic pathology, 83 clinical pathology, and 77 radiology images, 471 (48%) were unidentifiable. Unidentifiability of originals (4%) and conversions (10%) was low. For scans, unidentifiability ranged from 53% for color, to 74% for grayscale, to 97% for B&W. Of 987 responses about acceptability (n=405), 41% were said to be unacceptable, 97% of B&W, 66% of grayscale, 41% of color, and 1% of conversions. Hypothesized order (original, conversion, color, grayscale, B&W) matched 67% of rankings (n=215). Conclusions: PDF to TIFF conversion provided acceptable content. Color images are rarely useful in grayscale (12%) or B&W (less than 1%). Acceptability of grayscale scans of noncolor originals was 52%. Digital originals are needed for most images. Print images in color or grayscale should be scanned using those modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At East Carolina University (ECU), Joyner Academic and Laupus Health Sciences Libraries collaborated on a shared Neuroscience collection development policy, primarily as a reaction to state-level budget cuts. The policy aims to limit duplication in purchases at each library location but also describes the materials that are most appropriate for selection by each library and explores the usefulness of e-book purchases as a cost-saving measure. The result of this collaborative effort is a comprehensive neuroscience collection for ECU's libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]