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Note to grant writers:
If the environment section of your grant requires information about the Eskind Biomedical Library, please feel free to use the synopsis provided below. EBL staff is committed to keeping the information up to date.
The Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library
The Eskind Biomedical Library (EBL) is a modern 78,000 net square feet facility, dedicated in April 1994. The construction of this award-winning
library building was made possible by a gift from Vanderbilt alumnus Irwin Eskind and his wife, Annette. With a staff of 40, the library collects and
provides access to materials to support the teaching, research, and service missions of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Digital Resources
To facilitate information access at the point of need, EBL’s practice philosophy centers on the provision of electronic resources related to medicine,
nursing, and the biosciences along with services that integrate evidence seamlessly into VUMC workflow. EBL’s comprehensive, multidimensional
Digital Library offers fast, targeted access to online books, journals, databases,
and websites. Through this portal, EBL provides access to over 3,100 full-text electronic journal titles, a number that is continually expanding.
It also makes available seminal online texts (e.g. Harrison's Online and Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics) in a wide range of biomedical specialties.
In addition, EBL offers the Books@Ovid collection which includes 360 titles, Thieme Medical Publisher’s collection of 45 books, and AccessMedicine
which includes 70 book titles. The library subscribes to a wide variety of information sources to promote evidence-based practice: MDConsult™ and
Current Protocols Online are collections of full-text electronic resources. CRL Online (Clinical Reference Library™), Micromedex, and Epocrates Online
are comprehensive clinical drug information databases. BMJ’s Clinical Evidence provides summaries of current knowledge on medical treatment for a
range of conditions, developed through literature searching and assessment of systematic reviews. UpToDate® is a database of clinical topic reviews
based on clinical evidence. DynaMed provides point of care clinical summaries of the evidence and is available off campus as well as on campus. Global
Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON) is an online diagnosis and reference tool for the tropical and infectious diseases, epidemiology,
microbiology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy fields. Ovid™ Technologies provides access to several databases, including MEDLINE, Ovid™ Evidence-Based
Medicine Reviews, EMBASE Drugs & Pharmacology™, and HaPI™ (Health and Psychosocial Instruments) and Health Technology Assessments and National Health
Service Economic Evaluation Database. Access to CINAHLTM (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) is available through EBSCOhost.
Multimedia programs, such as A.D.A.M. Online Anatomy™, Primal Pictures, and Medical Media Systems support just-in-time education needs.
To promote biosciences research, the library provides web access to ScienceDirect®, BIOBASE Knowledge Library and Web of Knowledge™ which includes
BIOSIS®, ISIHighly Cited™, and Science Citation Index Expanded. EBL also provides access to key National Center for Biotechnology Information
resources including PubMed, GenBank™, Entrez Gene ™, Map Viewer™, and OMIM™. In addition, the Medical Center information systems are accessible via
the Digital Library.
Using its flexible Digital Library shell, EBL has also created specialized Digital Libraries for
Children's Hospital,
Bioresearch,
Nursing,
Public
Health, Geriatrics,
Special Collections,
Vanderbilt Medical School,
Consumer Health users, and
Medical School alumni to customize the electronic delivery of
information to these specific user groups. In addition, EBL provides the
Open Biosciences Digital Library, which contains non-subscription
resources and is freely accessible worldwide.
Evidence-based Practice Support
The library employs a matrix of strategies to foster evidence-based medicine practice. EBL provides access to a
list of commercially-produced evidence-based databases through a primary
navigation button within the Digital Library. This list encompasses critical resources such as UpToDate®; DynaMed; Cochrane Database of Systematic
Reviews, Review of Effects and Register of Controlled Trials; ACP Journal Club; FirstConsult, and links to globally accessible EBM resources such as
the National Guideline Clearinghouse™. The site also features EBL’s internally-developed EBM databases such as the
Clinical Informatics Consult Service (CICS)
Evidence Based site and the
Outpatient Clinical Informatics Consult Service (OCICS) site,
which house evidence syntheses created in response to complex clinical queries, and the
Pathway/Order Set Literature Locator, which contains expert
search strategies and literature summaries to support evidence-based development of clinical pathways and clinical order sets.
EBL has developed proactive mechanisms to integrate evidence into clinical and research workflow through linkages of patient care guidelines within
the electronic medical record. Further leveraging VUMC’s informatics tools, the library has extended the CICS evidence-provision model to
incorporate an evidence-request function into the patient record system to which clinicians can post complex questions and receive an expert summary
of the relevant literature. Summaries are integrated into the permanent patient record.
In addition to working as clinical and research informationists, EBL librarians participate in multidisciplinary teams throughout the medical center,
supporting a variety of programs such as pathways/order sets development, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and patient information services. EBL
team members contribute vetted personalized patient information links addressing diseases/conditions and lab findings/vital signs to the medical
center’s online patient portal, MyHealthAtVanderbilt, and the medical center’s
electronic medical record system, StarPanel.
Programs and Services
The library is committed to service, and its most important resource is the expertise of its staff. Librarians help students, residents, and faculty
stay abreast of the latest findings in the literature by actively participating in clinical rounds and providing targeted support to researchers.
Bioinformatics support is provided through regular training classes and individualized consultations. Members of the Collection Development Team are
available to meet with faculty developing new courses or programs to assess the information needs of those endeavors and determine the most
appropriate way to fulfill those needs. EBL assistance with comprehensive literature reviews is available to researchers developing IRB protocols and
to IRB protocol analysts.
The library has also established a Patient Informatics Consult Service
(PICS) program to provide VUMC patients and their families with the latest in health information. Information provision to this patron group includes
comprehensive information packets tailored to patient needs, access to EBL’s consumer health materials collection and access to EBL’s online Consumer
Health Digital Library.
Through AskELIS asynchronous services (Library Information Desk,
SearchDoc, the Librarian On Call, and Learning Site), staff expertise is electronically available 24/7. Online knowledge modules provide 24-hour
interactive instruction in health science resources and bibliographic management tools. Other services include circulation of books, management of
reserve materials, document delivery to obtain needed material held by other institutions, reference and research services, and guidance in the use
of new information technologies. As part of the Informatics Center, library staff works in partnership with researchers in the Division of Biomedical
Informatics and the Information Management Department to innovate the delivery of health information to Vanderbilt and to the larger regional
community.
Just-in-Time Learning Support
The library offers formal orientations and training sessions
on electronic resources regularly in its state-of-the-art Training Room. The Training Room features 14 training stations, a master station for the
trainer, and multimedia projection capabilities. Faronics InsightTM class management software, an integrated software utility, allows the trainer to
assume control of trainees' computers, the multimedia player, and the classroom projector, which facilitates interactive instruction and
demonstration. EBL staff also actively exploits opportunities for informal, just-in-time training in all interactions with medical center professionals.
EBL has also developed a medical education-focused digital library, Ask GALEN (General Assistance for Learning and Education Needs) that links
targeted electronic resources (electronic books, suggested course readings, relevant web sites, etc.) directly to lectures housed in the medical
school's web-based course management system. Ask GALEN allows students to move seamlessly between lecture notes and supplementary study materials to
support medical education at the point of need.
The library provides medical center patrons with the computer
equipment needed to support their information needs. Most public workstations in the library have the same desktop and functionality as other
"shared" workstations throughout the Medical Center. All 52 publicly available computers in the library are connected to the Medical Center network.
In addition, 13 wireless laptop computers can be used in the library.
Knowledge Management
EBL has long focused on integrating knowledge management approaches into information provision. A knowledge management focus on designing reusable
tools is central to EBL-created tools such as the Learning Framework, the
Training Module Shell, the Publishing and Directory Shells, and the Informatics Center Tools Finder. Moreover, EBL actively seeks opportunities to
integrate information into existing medical center tools and processes.
EBL Research
EBL’s research interests include integrating evidence into the
patient care and research workflow using informatics applications; health literacy; evaluating and formalizing the informationist concept; education,
skills development, and leadership development of librarians; optimal selection and use of information resources; and digital library development.
Print Resources
For materials not available in digital format or of historical value, the library maintains a print collection of over 204,201 volumes, of which
about 80,188 are monographs and 124,013 are serials. The library receives 42 print serial titles. Most materials are shelved in open stacks and are
available to users through Acorn, the library's web-based catalog. A unique collection of rare books, photographs, and historical items can be found
in the Historical Collections Room. Modeled after the National Library of Medicine’s “Turning the Pages” project, the EBL presents volume 1 of
William Wadd’s 1829 work Comments on Corpulency virtually via the
Historical Collections website. The EBL Medical Center Archives is a
repository for manuscripts and institutional records reflecting the history of the Medical Center and the history of medicine.
More details are provided at http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/biolib/. The site
includes a succinct description of the library's collection, programs, and services, along with a responsibility chart (in the "Who’s Who at Eskind"
section).
Last updated: July 7, 2009
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