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Contributed Paper Abstract
HHS Libraries: Sharing a Vision for Improved Library Support of Federal Health Research and Service
Jocelyn Rankin, Ph.D., Chief, CDC Information Center, Atlanta, GA; and Suzanne Grefsheim, Director, NIH Library, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
Purpose: A newly formed HHS libraries consortium has been established with the goal of providing all HHS employees with seamless, equitable, and timely access to needed information resources and services regardless of geographic location or agency size. This presentation describes its organization and key programmatic elements.
Setting/Participation/Resources: The Department of Health and Human Services, with a mission to provide for the health of all Americans, is composed of 12 agencies and approximately 60,000 employees. The Department is supported by 25 libraries that range in size from the National Library of Medicine to the Department’s legislative library with one employee. While the CDC, FDA, NIH, NLM, and Parklawn libraries are broad in scope, most HHS libraries are highly specialized, staffed with 1-3 employees, and exist to provide in-depth resources and services in very focused subject areas, such as aging or injury prevention.
Brief Description: After preliminary discussions in August, 2001 in conjunction with the IFLA Library Consortium Preconference, an organizational HHS libraries consortium meeting was held in the fall, 2001 with 40 attendees. With the assistance of a facilitator and breakout groups, the consortium’s mission, vision, goals, organizational structure and priorities emerged. Issues requiring some discussion included scope of membership, and member rights and voting privileges relative to library size and budget. Working groups were established to address the following priorities: cooperative procurement, digital reference services, resource sharing, shared training, and union catalog. Following the meeting, a website was launched to share consortium documents and working group reports.
Results/Outcomes: In one year, the consortium has drawn up and approved operating principles, established a steering committee and working groups to move forward issues of mutual concern. The consortium has reviewed, selected and begun implementation of a digital reference service; recommended baseline HHS library services to be available across the Department to all HHS employees; assessed training needs and resources among the various libraries; selected strategies and begun negotiations on consortial licensing; and reviewed and completed preliminary recommendations for seamless access to DHHS OPACs.
Evaluation: The Steering Committee is in the process of establishing measures to demonstrate the consortium’s ROI. The potential for the consortium to achieve its primary goal of ready and equitable access to information resources across the Department is clear. Additionally, while cooperative procurements will not always save real dollars in vendor costs, the approach will meet the Department’s goal of streamlined government.
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Last modified: Tuesday, 15 October 2002
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